As some of you may know, our ass-kicking, boat-sinking Minister of Marine and Fisheries Susi Pudjiastuti doesn’t come from a political background. She actually gave up running a very successful airline to help save our country’s precious fishies from foreign poachers. As such, she’s got more than enough money to live quite comfortably, even though she’s probably now making a fraction of what she once did as an entrepreneur.
Perhaps that’s why Susi was so pissed off when somebody tried to bribe her with Rp 1 trillion (about US$75.9 million and one hell of a big bribe).
“I am offended by companies that want to change the rules for Rp 1 trillion,” Susi told Tempo at her office yesterday.
In her typical no-nonsense manner, the minister told the journalists, “I say, I can not be bought!”
The rule the bribers wanted to break was Susi’s ban on ships using trawls and seine nets, as spelled out in her ministry’s Marine Regulation No. 2 of 2015.
After the ban went into effect Susi said foreign companies facing a fish deficit tried to find a way to revoke the rule by throwing a ton of cash her way. But it was no use.
“I can not be bought, Rp 1 trillion cannot buy my principles,” said Susi.
Susie said the ban on trawls and seine nets was meant to protect the environment so that local fishermen could prosper in the long run.
