JAKARTA- Publish What You Pay (PWYP) Indonesia urges Setya Novanto to resign from his position as Speaker of Indonesia’s House of Representative following an allegation of ethics violation and an criminal intention to the current government according to a audio recording that was publicly heard in ethics tribunal by House Ethics Council (MKD).
Maryati Abdullah, National Coordinator of PWYP Indonesia, said that in this case, House Speaker is allegedly traded his public influence in the extension process of the mining contract/license of Freeport Indonesia, and asked for shares in a planned power plant project in Papua, for the purpose of benefiting himself/groups and potentially led to public financial loss. “Therefore, it is very clear, Setya Novanto must resign from his position as Speaker of The House Representative,” said Maryati, on Tuesday (7/12) in Jakarta.
In the audio recording, there are indication of misusing Indonesian President and vice president names to gain personal benefit which is dishonor both of president and vice president as the symbol of Indonesia’s sovereignty. Therefore, there are clear justification to follow up this case to legal process. “Ethics standard of public officials have to be tightened to ensure their integrity and to avoid the conflict of interest as a public official,” added Maryati.
Responding this case, Fabby Tumiwa, Executive Director of IESR said that House Ethics Council should focus on the ethics violation of Setya Novanto. “The meeting that was conducted by SN, MR, and MS is a kind of meeting that related to economic interest, that clearly violate ethics code of The House. Meanwhile, let the other pro justicia process go naturally,” said Fabby.
Besides that, Fabby added, this “broker” attempt on Freeport Indonesia case should urge government to following up revision of Law No.4/2009 on mineral and coal mining. Importantly, the need to ensure transparency in the granting process of mining licenses.
“In the future, transparency in granting mining licenses should meaningfully involved both local government and community, following evaluations on performance and implementation of the previous contracts/licenses,” added Fabby.
Hanafi Ahmad, Executive Director of Indonesia Parliamentary Center (IPC), added, “Changing the hearing process from open for public to closed for public showed that Ethics Council of The House did not take side with public. Such change also close the space for public to monitor the ethics hearing process. In fact, two previous hearings for this case, which attracting massive public attention, were opened for public. The only a way for the Ethics Council to bring back public trust to the House is by open any meetings and process in the parliament and disclose results of the meeting to be accessible for public. This case should become a momentum for transparency in the parliament, instead of locking the parliament behind a closed door.”