What JK Says about Hendarman Supandji's Late Dismissal

Bekasi, Indonesia (News Today) - Former Vice President Jusuf Kalla said it is quite understandable that President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono discharged Hendarman Supandji as attorney general only two days after the Constitutional Court in effect ordered Hendarman to resign.

"We can understand it needed time. (The decision to discharge Hendarman-eds.) needs thorough thinking and, thank God, the presidential letter has been issued," he said here Saturday.

Speaking to newsmen after delivering a public lecture at the As-Syafi’iyah Islamic University here, Kalla said he himself did not know why President Yudhoyono needed two days for discharging Hendarman Supandji despite the Constitutional Court’s Wednesday decision.

"I don’t know why but the President has, in fact, signed the presidential letter. Thus, the problem has been resolved," Kalla said.

Following the signing of the presidential letter, he urged mass media in the country to end the polemic of the Hendarman Supandji case. Two days after the Constitutional Court made a final decision on Wednesday in response to Yusril Ihza Mahendra’s challenge for the position of attorney general, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono signed a letter officially relieving Hendarman from the position.

The presidential letter was signed on the sidelines of the head of state’s activities at the presidential state palace in Jakarta on September 24, President Yudhoyono’s special aide for information affairs Heru Lelono said. The signed letter on Supandji’s dismissal was the government’s effort to "appreciate" the Constitutional Court’s decision to end Hendarman Supandji’s term on Wednesday, he said.

Yusril’s move by requesting a judicial review of the article that regulated the tenure of the attorney general was related to his fight against the Attorney General Office (AGO)’s allegation that he was involved in the Law and Human Rights Ministry’s online service case. The AGO had named Yusril and businessman Hartono Tanoesudibyo as suspects in a corruption case involving an online service initiated and owned by the ministry.

The Hartono Tanoesudibyo case is related to the Law and Human Rights Ministry’s www.sisminbakum.com website. The online service’s purpose was to make it easier for the public to register notarial acts and permit registrations.

The website was operated by PT Sarana Rekatama Dinamika (SRD), a company partly owned by Hartono Tanoesudibyo. The contract between SRD and the Justice and Human Rights Ministry was signed when Yusril headed the ministry.

The contract stated that SRD would gain 90 percent of the profits from the online services and the remaining 10 percent belonged to ministry officials. The total income reportedly gained by this online service operator from access fees between April 2001 and November 2008 was estimated at Rp420 billion.

Source : kompas

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