Democratic Representative Benny K Harman Asks Deputy Minister of Law to Leave House Commission Hearing

By Nirmala Maulana Achmad, Ihsanuddin, and the Editorial Team for Kompas.com – November 21, 2023, 15:32 Local

JAKARTA, KOMPAS.com – Member of Indonesia’s House of Representatives Commission III¹, Rep. Benny K. Harman² (Democratic Party-East Nusa Tenggara I), asked Deputy Minister of Law and Human Rights Mr. Edward Omar Sharif Hiariej³ (Eddy Hiariej) to leave the Commission meeting room today.⁴

The incident occurred while Commission III was meeting with the Ministry of Law and Human Rights⁵ regarding the optimization of its role and function in the lead up to the 2024 general elections at the House of Representative Complex in Senayan, Central Jakarta, on Tuesday (11/21/2023).

Initially, Deputy Chairman of Commission III, Rep. Dr. Habiburokhman⁶ (Gerindra Party-Jkt I) invited Minister of Law and Human Rights Mr. Yasonna Laoly to present information.⁷

As Minister Yasonna was about to speak, Benny interrupted. “Wait, Sir. Interruption, please,” said Dr. Habiburokhman. Addressing the meeting participants, Benny emphasized Mr. Eddy Hiariej’s status as a corruption suspect.

“Before us, apart from the Minister, is the Deputy Minister. Is anyone unaware of his status?” Benny asked.

“His status is known to everyone here. The Deputy Minister is a suspect named by the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK),” stated the Democratic Party House Representative.

Rep. Benny then asked Eddy to leave the room to ensure the meeting was “not defective.”

“We propose that he should not be in this room,” Benny urged. Meanwhile, Dr. Habiburokhman decided to continue the meeting with Eddy remaining in the room.

“Currently, the issue of status or whatever it is has no relevance to this hearing. So, let us proceed,” said Dr. Habiburokhman.

It is known that the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) named Mr. Edward Omar Sharif Hiariej or Eddy Hiariej a suspect in an alleged bribery and gratification case on November 9⁸. Apart from Eddy, the anti-corruption agency also named three other suspects, making a total of four suspects. However, he has not been detained and so he has been continuing to perform his duties as deputy minister as normal.

This article is based on https://nasional.kompas.com/read/2023/11/21/15323451/benny-k-harman-usir-wamenkumham-dari-rapat-dpr-karena-berstatus-tersangka.

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• https://nasional.kompas.com/read/2023/12/07/21002041/kpk-duga-eks-wamenkumham-eddy-hiariej-terima-suap-dan-gratifikasi-rp-8
• https://nasional.kompas.com/read/2023/12/07/20121661/kpk-tetapkan-penyuap-eks-wamenkumham-sebagai-tersangka
• https://nasional.kompas.com/read/2023/12/06/13251791/istana-wamenkumham-sudah-kirim-surat-pengunduran-diri-ke-presiden
• https://nasional.kompas.com/read/2023/12/04/18200411/wamenkumham-ajukan-praperadilan-lawan-penetapan-tersangka-kpk
• https://nasional.kompas.com/read/2023/11/21/17400251/wamenkumham-diusir-dari-rapat-dpr-karena-status-tersangka-yasonna-hargai
• https://nasional.kompas.com/read/2023/11/30/15181061/kpk-minta-imigrasi-cegah-wamenkumham-ke-luar-negeri

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Footnotes:

1. https://www.dpr.go.id/en/akd/komisi ↩︎
2. See https://www.dpr.go.id/blog/profil/id/1827 and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benny_Kabur_Harman. ↩︎
3. According to Wikipedia, Mr. Eddy Hiariej is suspected of receiving a gratification payment of Rp 7 billion ($US467,000). Sugeng Teguh Santoso, the Chairman of civil society group Indonesia Police Watch (IPW), reported Eddy Hiariej to the Corruption Eradication Commission on March 14, 2023, alleging Eddy had received the gratification payment through two of his personal assistants. Both personal assistants subsequently reported Sugeng to the police, while Mr. Eddy initially chose not to respond seriously. However, on April 4, 2023, through his legal team, he issued a written statement pressing the police to declare Sugeng a suspect for violating the controversial draconian Information and Electronic Transactions Law (UU ITE) and arrest him. The Corruption Eradication Commission has subsequently confirmed Eddy Hiariej was a suspect in a case involving alleged bribery and gratification. The order for investigation (sprindik) with Eddy Hiariej as a suspect was reportedly signed by the leadership of the KPK two weeks ago, before November 9, 2023. See https://id.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Omar_Sharif_Hiariej. ↩︎
4. The Democratic Party is a member of the Advance Indonesia Coalition (KIM) which has nominated Prabowo-Gibran as its presidential and vice presidential candidates for the 2024 presidential election. See https://id.wikipedia.org/wiki/Koalisi_Indonesia_Maju_(2024). ↩︎
5. https://kemenkumham.go.id/ and https://kemenkumham.go.id/profil/tentang-kemenkumham-ri/profil-pejabat ↩︎
6. https://www.dpr.go.id/blog/profil/id/1885 ↩︎
7. Minister for Law and Human Right Yasonna Laoly is from the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P). For more see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yasonna_Laoly. ↩︎
8. See note 2 above. ↩︎

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