SBY PRESIDENCY
Analysts are calling on the government to give more weight to public opinion of the scandal involving the Corruption Eradication Corruption, as a study released over the weekend shows President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono’s image took a hit from his attempts to remain neutral in the affair.The Indonesian Survey Circle (LSI) said its study found that the media had portrayed the president in a negative light more frequently than it had the anticorruption commission, known as the KPK. The issue, it said, was compounded by lingering controversy over the controversial bailout of PT Bank Century.
The LSI’s research was conducted between Oct. 26 and Wednesday. It included an analysis of coverage in five national newspapers, as well as interviews with politicians, activists and academics.
The study concluded that more than half of the media coverage of the KPK scandal, or 53 percent, depicted Yudhoyono negatively, while only 20 percent portrayed the KPK in a poor light. The police received the worst treatment, with 60 percent of media coverage unfavorable.
By contrast, coverage of suspended KPK deputy chairmen Bibit Samad Rianto and Chandra M Hamzah was overwhelmingly positive. Only 10 percent was negative.
The scandal involves an alleged attempt by officials from the National Police and Attorney General’s office to help bring down the KPK by framing Bibit and Chandra for bribery.
LSI executive director Denny JA, a political consultant to Yudhoyono during this year’s election campaign, said the public held a higher opinion of the president than the National Police, but a lower opinion of him than both the KPK and Bibit and Chandra.
Denny said Yudhoyono, who won a landslide victory in July’s election, had erred when he said he wouldn’t interfere after Bibit and Chandra were arrested by the police on Oct. 29. At the time, he asserted that there was nothing unusual about their arrests.
“Yudhoyono’s position is deemed to be not in line with public opinion,” Denny said.
Rising popular support for Bibit and Chandra quickly made headlines. Yudhoyono later changed course, setting up a fact-finding team to look into the conflict. But it may not have been enough.
With Bibit and Chandra seen as victims of injustice, political analysts and sociologists warned that the public, already deeply cynical because of entrenched corruption, would not be easily placated by the establishment of one fact-finding team.
“The government may not think that common people will pay special attention to the issue of corruption. They think it’s an elitist issue. But it’s not,” said political analyst Ikrar Nusa Bakti, of the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI). “Jakarta’s middle class, which supports the KPK, has the power to gain greater support from larger sections of the public.”
University of Indonesia sociologist Thamrin Amal Tomagola said the demonstration in support of the KPK reminded him of one on May 19, 1997, when professionals at the Indonesia Stock Exchange, known for staying out of politics, decided to hold a rally demanding the resignation of the late dictator Suharto.
“When these professionals start to emerge from their comfortable dens, the government should pay attention,” he said.
Analysts warned that the activists who spurred the public to come out in support of Bibit and Chandra should not be ignored.
“They are the wheels of public support of the KPK. The movement would not receive the public’s support if the people did not share the same feeling: disappointment with law enforcement institutions and disdain for corruption practices,” said Hotman M Siahaan, a sociologist at Airlangga University in Surabaya.
Meanwhile, analysts said, the president could help burnish his image by devoting more attention to getting to the bottom of the Bank Century case.
The case involved a controversial Rp 6.7 trillion ($710 million) government bailout of the bank a year ago. The chief police investigator involved in the current KPK case, Comr. Gen. Susno Duadji, has been accused of unlawfully intervening to help a prominent bank client recover funds from the bank at a time when the bank was insolvent and seeking a government injection of cash.
Many critics claim the investigation of the KPK was aimed at diverting attention from the Bank Century probe.
“The case can be solved and Yudhoyono can again enjoy his golden popularity,” Denny said.
Sociologist Thamrin Amal Tamagola said Yudhoyono should make a strategic decision to resolve the Bank Century bailout, calling it the root of the country’s current legal chaos.
“The Century case is the important knot,” he said.(thejakartaglobe)
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