One of the bigger political scandals brewing in Indonesia at the moment has been over the Agency for Pancasila Ideology Education (BPIP), a group recently formed by President Joko Widodo to help promote the state’s founding ideological principle. The controversy concerns the amount of funding Jokowi has given to each BPIP board member, particularly the chairperson of both BPIP as well as his own party, PDI-P leader Megawati Soekarnoputri.
Critics of the government have seized on the scandal, arguing that Megawati was not doing anything to earn her IDR 112 million (US $8,000) per month salary (which is roughly 30x the minimum wage in Jakarta) and that it was simply Jokowi paying financial tribute to his party’s leader.
A tabloid newspaper based in Bogor that often takes an anti-government stance, published an article yesterday criticizing Megawati on those with the headline:”Ongkang-ongkang Kaki Dapat Rp112 juta” (Do nothing and get IDR112 million).
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That article apparently did not go down well with a group of local PDI-P supporters. About 100 of them showed up at the offices of Radar Bogor in the Jakarta satellite city of Bogor, West Java, at about 4pm.
According to the newspaper’s chief editor Tegar Bagja, the PDI-P supporters arrived at their office without prior notification and rolled up on motorcycles carrying loudspeakers.
“They came in a rage, yelled, chased our front desk staff, and deliberately destroyed our property,” Tegar told CNN Indonesia.
Tegar said they also pushed several employees and beat one of the newspaper’s staff.
According to the editor-in-chief, things calmed down enough for them to have a talk with eight representatives of the PDI-P supporters in their editorial meeting room. But the talk was heated with the PDI-P reps kicking the table and cursing during the meeting. The Bogor Police finally arrived on the scene and were present for the mediation.
The PDI-P supporters said they objected to the use of the word “gaji” (salary) in the Radar Bogor article. They argued that the IDR112 million given to Megawati was not her personal salary but rather her funding to do all her BPIP-related business such as organizing events, travel, etc.
They also wanted Radar Bogor to include news that Megawati had never actually used any of her BPIP funds nor would she in the future.
“On the inaccurate use of the word ‘salary’, we are ready to correct, and the PDI-P cadres who asked us to share about Ibu Mega having not and not wanting to take the income, we will certainly include that as well,” Tegar told the group.
Police confirmed that they attended the mediation and that Radar Bogor had agreed to admit any mistakes they had made and clarify their previous article. There have been no reports of police arresting any of the PDI-P supporters for the violence that took place prior to the mediation. Hundreds more that were supposedly still on their way to the Radar Bogor offices were turned back after police dispersed the crowd.
Dadang Danubrata, the head of PDI-P Bogor’s executive council (DPC), speaking to Detik this morning, said that the action was done spontaneously by the party’s supporters but without any official directive from PDI-P officials. He denied that the group had committed any “anarchic” actions during the protest at Radar Bogor and said they had a right to demand the newspaper correct the misleading article about Megawati.
Although BPIP features several of Indonesia’s most respected religious authorities — including the heads of both NU and the Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI) who are also receiving IDR100 million+ in monthly funds for the privilege — Jokowi’s political enemies have mostly singled out Megawati’s supposed salary for criticism.
Corruption watchdog Indonesian Anti-Corruption Community (MAKI) said it was planning to file a judicial review against the BPIP over the large amount of funding for its board members.
