Indonesia: Yudhoyono’s annus horribilis

By AP News Dec 24, 2011 3:13PM UTC

Revelations of corruption continue from former fugitive treasurer Nazaruddin, reports Asia Sentinel

As 2011 draws to a close, it would be hard to imagine a worse year for Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and his Democratic Party. The president’s image as a reformer has been irreparably damaged, along with his party’s hopes to maintain control of Indonesian politics into the future.

Much – but not all — of the damage has come at the hands of Muhammad Nazaruddin, the former treasurer of the party, who has been delivering up bombshell after bombshell in a Jakarta courtroom for much of the last month.


Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono. Pic: AP

This week was no exception. Nazaruddin showed reporters copies of 16 receipts for bribes allegedly paid by Party Chairman Anas Urbaningrum to individuals connected to the controversial Athletes’ Village constructed for the Southeast Asia Games which were held in November.

Nazaruddin fled Jakarta in May ahead of arrest by the Corruption Eradication Commission. He has drawn Yudhoyono himself into the mess, saying he had visited the president’s home the day before he hurriedly decamped for Singapore, to tell him of the involvement of top Democratic Party officials in the scandals. Nazaruddin’s lawyers told reporters in early December that the president hadn’t acted on the former treasurer’s information.

Nazaruddin was on the run for months before he was intercepted by Interpol in Cartagena, a resort city on the Colombian coast. During that period of freedom, he texted and tweeted reporters in Jakarta, alleging the involvement of the party officials.

Urbaningrum was once considered one of Yudhoyono’s young reformers and was a presumptive candidate for the presidency when the president’s term ends in 2014, as was former Sports Minister Andi Mallarangeng. With the evidence Nazaruddin has offered against other top Democratic Party officials, however, it is unlikely that the party will be able to field a candidate at all.