UPDATE: president considers KPK's options (and his own political survival)
What a weekend! Every single newspaper is screaming blue murder at the arrest of our national heroes, KPK commissioners Bibit and Chandra. At last count, the Facebook Group, Gerakan 1 juta Facebookers Dukung Chandra Hamzah dan Bibit Samad Riyanto (the movement of 1 million Facebookers supporting Chandra and Bibit), had reached 300,000 members --- not bad for a country where 90% of Facebook use is by mobile phone.
It seems that Ibu Ani must have a Facebook page, because on Sunday the President met with four men to seek their advice on the KPK crisis:
- Komaruddin Hidayat, the rector of Syarif Hidayatullah State Islamic University
- Teten Masduki, the secretary-general of Transparency International Indonesia
- Anis Baswedan, the director of Paramadina University
- Hikmahanto Juwana, a law professor at University of Indonesia
The fact that the President consulted with three universities is telling. It shows just how complex he considers the issue to be. A question I have, one that perhaps Rob Baiton or Ari Juliano can help me with is why hasn't the President consulted with the head of the Constitutional Court or the Administrative Court?
There might be a legal-constitutional reason why the President has not spoken to the judiciary (assuming that he hasn't). In my homeland, New Zealand, it is vital that the three branches of government, the executive (cabinet), judiciary (courts) and legislature (house of representatives), remain independent of each other. So, if the Prime Minister wanted to speak to the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, he would have to be very careful what he said and would probably want to make sure that there were lots of witnesses, including the press. I don't know if the same applies here in Indonesia.
It might be even more simple than this. The Constitutional Court has wasted no time criticizing the President for his ill-advised actions, particularly the ridiculous PERPPU. Given the President's sensitivities (remember he said he had been "awfully hurt"), it could well be that the President can't see beyond his own personal issues.
Either way, that's not important. What is important is that the President is finally paying attention to what is going on around him. There is hope.
What can we learn from this? The President can no longer sit back and let things happen --- not when they are of national importance, and most certainly not when they have a direct impact on his credibility. He won the election because of the KPK. He has shamelessly ridden on the coat-tails of their success. He must protect them.
He owes it to the people who elected him.
You can find the Facebook page discussed above here. If you would like to read more about this, you should have a look at Rob Baiton's blog. Here is a link to his "KPK" posts. Also check out Tree's blog, for a very detailed look at specific issues.
You might also be interested in the following posts:
- The KPK, news media and why I still love Indonesia -- which has a very basic explanation of the KPK crisis
- How Indonesians outgrew their President -- which looks at the wire-tapping issue
- The Constitutional Court tells the President he is wrong -- which explains the PERPPU issue
- The President misreads public sentiment, comes across as a pansy -- which explains the President's reaction to the wire-tapping issue
