Ezra Sihite & Novianti Setuningsih, Jakarta – A political furor has broken out that threatens to tarnish President-elect Joko Widodo's image as a man of the people – all because Mercedes makes a cheaper car than Toyota.
The brouhaha stems from the State Secretariat's decision last month to pick the Indonesian unit of the German automaker as the winner of a tender to supply cars for ministers in the incoming administration.
Mercedes-Benz Indonesia put in a bid of Rp 91.944 billion ($7.81 billion) to beat out Toyota, which supplied the previous batch of limousines for cabinet members.
But the switch from the Japanese make, with its workmanlike image, to Mercedes, a luxury brand, has irked politicians and observers alike, who argue that it hurts Joko's reputation for humility – even though State Secretary Sudi Silalahi and Finance Minister M. Chatib Basri have stressed that the cars to be supplied by Mercedes are cheaper than those offered by Toyota.
It is not yet clear what type of Mercedes the tender calls for, but the cheapest variant of the S-class, the model typically used by ministers and senior state officials, has a list price of Rp 1.819 billion. The Toyota Crown Royal Saloon, which is currently used by ministers, sells today for Rp 1.897 billion.
"It's the cheapest option and they're throwing in five years free maintenance," Sudi said on Tuesday, but declined to say how many cars would be purchased. "It's cheaper than what we're [currently] using. And [the cars] are made in Indonesia," he added, referring to Mercedes's assembly plant in Bogor.
But the cost argument has failed to fend off criticism over the purchase, with a top antigraft official saying the move is not "pro-people," a term that Joko and his party, the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle, or PDI-P, are fond of spouting.
Bambang Widjojanto, a deputy chairman of the Corruption Eradication Commission, or KPK, said Mercedes was synonymous with luxury and prestige, and was thus inappropriate as the everyday vehicle for a minister serving the public. "This excessive facility is an abuse of common sense," he said on Wednesday.
Joko himself has balked at news of the planned purchase, saying he had asked the State Secretariat to cancel it. "I told [Sudi] it would be better not to buy new cars. We can use the old cars," he said on Tuesday as quoted by Detik.com.
However, Sudi argued that there was nothing untoward in the whole process, and noted that the funding had long been approved by the House of Representatives.
Some observers have painted the decision to announce the tender winner publicly as an effort by the current administration of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to undermine the image of the incoming government, which takes office on Oct. 20. "This is a blow and a trap for Joko's administration," Sugiharto, a researcher at the Indonesia Budget Center, told Kompas.com.
He said the procurement appeared to be a political effort to weaken Joko's administration. He also called the procurement of new cars unnecessary, especially given that Joko was expected to announce a hike in subsidized fuel prices as one of his first policy moves.
Sugiharto said it was not too late for the Yudhoyono administration to annul the purchase as long as it had not signed a contract with Mercedes-Benz Indonesia.
"If it's only at the stage of announcing the tender winner, then the purchase can still be cancelled because they haven't signed a contract yet. The law allows for a cancellation, and the government isn't obliged to spend the allocated funding," he said.
Source: http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/news/mercedes-toyota-new-ministers-neither-says-jokowi/