The Jakarta Globe, October 11, 2013.
Banten Governor Ratu Atut Chosiyah stepped out of her black Mitsubishi Bajero Sport SUV at the Corruption Eradication Commission’s South Jakarta headquarters on Friday and smiled as she greeted the throng of jostling reporters.
“Assalamualaykum,” she said to the camera, placing her palms together in a respectful greeting.
The usually posh Atut wore no makeup and a black jilbab on Friday. She walked briskly into the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) building, where she was due to be questioned as a witness in the antigraft body’s investigation into attorney Susi Tur Andayani — a family associate arrested with disgraced Constitutional Court chief justice Akil Mochtar on allegations of widespread election-rigging.
The downfall of the head of Indonesia’s Constitutional Court has serious implications for Atut and her family. Her brother Tubagus Chaeri, the husband of South Tangerang Mayor Airin Rachmi Diani, was charged in the case.
Atut is the head of a powerful political dynasty in Banten province that has been accused of siphoning off tens of billions of rupiah in public money from infrastructure projects in a single year. Her family reportedly had their hands in the till for years, embezzling funds at the expense of the increasingly impoverished electorate.
Several regions in western Banten, from Lebak to Serang, remain some of poorest places in Indonesia — despite significant inflows of money. The money, it seems, rarely made it to the districts’ residents and some of the region’s infrastructure is in serious disrepair.
Her status as a witness set off a chorus of cheers from Banten residents. A banner reading, “Thank you KPK. We Banten residents support you,” hung from the pedestrian overpass on Jalan HR Rasuna Said near the KPK’s building. Protestors rallied outside the building on Friday with signs calling Atut a “corruptor” and showing support for the antigraft body.
Atut looked unfazed as she entered the KPK building on Friday, but she has shown signs of concern in the wake of Tubagus’ arrest. On Monday, Atut gathered her family together and held a prayer session in the support of brother and daughter-in-law.
Shamans, strongmen and surgery
Sensational rumors have swirled about the family since Tubagus’ arrest. Atut has undergone a significant amount of plastic surgery, according to media reports. She is protected by a gang of jawara, powerful local leaders skilled in Indonesian martial arts and granted powers by local dukuns (shamans).
She is protected by black magic.
Muslim clerics prepared holy water outside the KPK building on Friday, promising to combat the work of malicious dukuns.
“If black magic is involved, please have it directed at me,” Sukma Saefi Maulana told the Indonesian news portal Detik.com. “I have holy water from an ancient mosque in Banten prepared.”
KPK chief Abraham Samad said the agency would push on unafraid of Atut’s allegedly powerful friends.
“Let Atut be protected by the jawara — the KPK is protected by God,” Abraham told Detik.com.
Paper trails
The KPK has yet to name Atut as anything more than a witness in its ongoing investigation. But Indonesia Corruption Watch (ICW) and the government’s Supreme Audit Agency (BPK) have released separate reports alleging severe budget misuse by Atut’s Banten government.
Her administration has been accused of a host of embezzlement schemes, including the creation of more than a dozen fake or illegitimate organizations and billions stolen in marked-up public projects.
The Banten Health Agency and the Banten General Affairs Bureau were reportedly in charge of three projects with budgets inflated Rp 1.21 billion in 2012. The BPK Banten office also discovered evidence that a Rp 1.13 billion grant went undocumented in the same year.
In another case, a land purchase was allegedly marked-up Rp 1.65 billion, the BPK report read.
ICW detailed additional claims of corruption involving Banten government officials.
In 2011, the Banten government received Rp 340 billion for grants and Rp 51 billion for social aid in its budget appropriation from the central government, according to ICW. The funds were to be distributed to mass organizations and institutions working with the province’s most vulnerable residents.
The funds were quickly disbursed and the Banten government soon sent the House of Representatives an urgent letter: they needed more money — Rp 88.3 billion to be exact. House lawmakers responded by allocating the province an additional Rp 94.3 billion in government funds.
The province’s institutions and mass organizations were in need of a significant amount of money, the local government argued. But when researchers from ICW followed the paper trail they discovered that several of the organizations didn’t exist.
ICW visited 30 percent of the institutions listed as recipients of government funds. Ten of those listed were fake, Ade Irawan, a researcher at ICW, said. Those ten institutions received Rp 4.5 billion in public money.
One such organization, the Shariah Economic Development Forum, was listed by the Banten Asset and Financial Management Agency to a private residence. The home’s owner said he never heard of the organization, Ade said.
Another institution, the Micro Business Development Forum, was listed to a Youri Messakh. When ICW visited the address detailed in Banten government documents, they found Youri’s home. His parents said their son wasn’t the head of an organization, but he was a staffer at the South Tangerang Mayor’s Office and part of Airin’s campaign team.
The allegations continued. Ten organizations were listed to one of two addresses. Fifteen others were registered to members of Atut’s family or fellow Golkar Party politicians. The governor’s cronies allegedly received Rp 29.5 billion in state funds.
In all the Banten government allegedly skimmed off nearly ten percent of social welfare and grant budget in a single year, Ade said.
“The grant and social aid fund totaled around Rp 390 billion,” he said. “Allegedly some Rp 34.9 billion was misused.”
Atut’s spokesman declined to comment on the allegations, calling the matter a government issue.
“It’s a government program, so she will not comment,” Fitron Nur said. “Besides it happened only in some regions, just small parts of the big Banten province.”
All in the family
Atut is the government in much of Banten. She is the head of a powerful family dynasty with direct relatives in nearly a dozen political offices, from the Banten Representative Council (DPD) to the governor’s office.
For the family, political office has reportedly been a lucrative business. Atut allegedly owns 122 properties and homes throughout Jakarta and Banten worth some Rp 19.1 billion, according to her 2006 wealth report filed with the KPK.
She owned 38 vehicles, including several luxury cars, worth Rp 3.9 billion and a clutch of jewelry totaling Rp 7.75 billion. Combined with her personal savings and corporate stocks, Atut was worth an estimated Rp 41.9 billion in 2006, the last publicly available wealth report on record.
It was a significant increase over her 2002 wealth report, which valued her total listed assets at Rp 30.6 billion.
Spokesman Fitron said much of Atut’s wealth was family money. Her father was a rich man when he died, and deeded much of his wealth to his daughter.
“So when her wealth reportedly increased, it was mostly in land [prices],” Fitron said.
The family’s wealth balloons to Rp 159.7 billion when totaling the reported assets of four people who, at one time, held political office in Banten. Seven others had not reported their wealth to the KPK.
The richest member of the family was Atut’s daughter-in-law and South Tangerang mayor Airin, who reported Rp 103.9 billion in combined assets in 2010.
Rising poverty rates
Nationwide poverty figures declined slightly between Sept. 2012 and March 2013, but Banten bucked the trend, adding nearly 8,000 new residents to its poverty statistics. By March, the number of residents living on less than $2 a day in Banten reached 648,254, or 5.71 percent of the population.
Some ten percent of the province’s population was unemployed, but the local government continued to receive some Rp 5 trillion in taxes, fines and fees.
The province’s poverty rate still fell well below the national average of 11.37 percent, but those figures include provinces in poor eastern Indonesia. Money in Indonesia historically flowed to Java and the fact that a province that borders Jakarta, and districts that are some 90 kilometers from the skyscrapers of the capital, could be one of the poorest regions in the nation raised alarm.
Last year a Reuters photographer snapped a shot of children clinging on for life as they traversed a partially collapsed bridge in Lebak district. The photo series, which was printed in newspapers across the globe, highlighted the province’s infrastructure failings.
Photographer Beawiharta wrote on the wire agency’s blog that the kids walked slowly across the bridge, screaming as their feet slipped from the edge of the hanging structure.
“It was difficult to think that a day after taking pictures of middle class workers in the Indonesian capital, just three hours away from luxurious buildings, I found a group of students risking their lives to go to school,” he wrote.
The Center of the Study of Law and Politics of Indonesia (PSHK) said the poverty in Banten was directly linked to mismanagement of public projects.
“Banten has no serious problems after it developed into an autonomous region,” Ronald Rofiandri, advocacy director at PSHK, said. “There are no problems with the budget, the province is not lacking in resources either. “
The family’s spokesman called the issues little more than growing pains.
“[Atut] said people should understand that Banten consists of eight districts and it is relatively new, just 13 years old,” Fitron said. “Despite some of the problems, there are also success stories, mainly related to infrastructure development.
“We should objectively see the province’s successes and failures. [But] regarding the bridges, Atut feels she’s is still far from being a success [in developing that region].”
The Atut family dynasty
1. Andika Hazrumy, Atut’s son, member of Banten Representative Council (DPD Banten) 2009 – 2014, wealth reported in 2006 totaled Rp 19.6 billion.
2. Hikmat Tomet, Atut’s husband, lawmaker from Golkar party 2009 – 2014, wealth reported in 2010 totaled Rp 33.8 billion.
3. Ade Rossi Chaerunnisa, Atut’s daughter in law, member of Serang Legislatives Council (DPRD Banten), wealth not reported.
4. Ratu Tatu Chasanah, Atut’s daughter, deputy mayor of Serang, 2010-2015, wealth not reported.
5. Airin Rachmy Diani, Atut’s daughter in law, South Tangerang Mayor, wealth reported in 2010 totaled Rp 103.9 billion.
6. Tubagus Haerul Jaman, Atut’s brother, Serang mayor, wealth reported in 2008 totaled Rp 2.4 billion.
7. Ratu Lilis Karyawati, Atut’s sister, member of Serang Representatives Council (DPD Serang) 2009 – 2014, wealth not reported.
8. Aden Abdul Khaliq, Atut’s brother in law, member of Banten Legislative Council, 2009 – 2014, wealth not reported
9. Heryani Yuhana, Atut’s step mother, member of Banten Representatives Council, 2009 – 2014, wealth not reported.
10. Ratna Komalasari, Atut’s step mother, member of Serang Legislative Council (DPRD Serang), 2009 – 2014, wealth not reported.
11. Ratu Ella Syatibi, Atut’s cousin, member of Banten Legislative Council, 2009 – 2014, wealth not reported.
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vr 11 okt 2013 - 19:24