Legal Attack on PDI-P Election Candidate Ganjar Pranowo, Shades of January Twitter Threat That Criminal Investigations Poised After Election

Nicholas Ryan Aditya & Ihsanuddin for Kompas.com, March 5, 2024

JAKARTA, KOMPAS.com – The election campaign team of former Central Java provincial governor Mr. Ganjar Pranowo and running mate Prof. Dr. Mahfud MD hopes there will not be attempts to politicize the legal system after Ganjar was reported to the Indonesian Corruption Eradication Commission for alleged involvement in bribery and kickbacks from an insurance company.

But suspicions are growing stronger that the legal system is being politicized with a statement made on January 8, 2024, on Twitter by former 1998 anti-New Order regime activist-turned Prabowo Subianto loyalist and election campaign spokesperson, Fahri Hamzah, that an unnamed presidential candidate would become a suspect in a criminal case after the 2024 presidential election.

The director of legal affairs for the Ganjar-Mahfud campaign team, Mr. Ronny Talapessy, still remembers the statement made by Fahri Hamzah’s on his Twitter account in January.

“We in the campaign team still remember Fahri Hamzah’s statement in a video that one of the presidential candidates would become a suspect [after the election]. So we earnestly hope that there won’t be any politicizing of the legal system after the election, because the impact would be enormous,” Mr. Ronny told Kompas.com on Tuesday (3/5/2024).

Daripada iri dengan harta orang yang legal dan halal, mending kita taruhan: “siapa calon yg jadi tersangka setelah kalah sekali putaran? “.

— #AyoMoveOn2024 (@Fahrihamzah) January 8, 2024

Ronny believes Fahri Hamzah’s statement could have consequences for political stability after the 2024 election. He also hopes that political stability remains strong.

“This is what I believe we need to remind everyone about, not to play around with politicizing the law,” he said.

The Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) politician said he was confident that Ganjar is clean from any legal cases because he has gone through a series of processes required to register and stand as a presidential candidate.[..]

“Actually, the matter is outside jurisdiction of the campaign team because the report was allegedly made when Ganjar was Central Java Governor. Of course the campaign team doesn’t know what happened at that time. And the campaign team’s task is not to deal with anything other than election and presidential issues,” he said.

“But even so, because it involves Ganjar Pranowo we will study it first and talk to Ganjar,” Ronny continued.

As reported earlier, the non-government organization Indonesia Police Watch (IPW) reported Ganjar Pranowo, and a former President Director of Bank Jateng with the initial “S”, to the anti-graft agency.

The head of the Bogor district branch of the Indonesian Solidarity Party (PSI) and IPW chairman Mr. Sugeng Teguh Santoso claimed he had reported Ganjar and “S” for allegedly accepting kickbacks and/or bribes in the form of cashbacks from an insurance company.

Sugeng was also stood as a candidate for PSI in the February 14, 2024, Bogor city legislative election. (The national head of PSI is President Joko Widodo’s youngest son Mr. Kaesang Pangarep. Also read Elections: Fathers and Sons, Jokowism and PSI, Tempo)

“IPW reported the alleged kickbacks and/or bribes received by the Board of Directors of Bank Jateng from insurance companies,” Sugeng said when confirmed on Tuesday. Sugeng said the insurance companies provided credit guarantee coverage to Bank Jateng creditors which was understood to be a cashback. The alleged value of the gratuity or bribe reached more than Rp. 100 billion ($US6.7m).

This article is based on https://nasional.kompas.com/read/2024/03/05/20391601/ganjar-dilaporkan-ke-kpk-tpn-singgung-ucapan-fahri-hamzah-soal-capres-jadi

In related news:

• https://nasional.kompas.com/read/2024/03/07/17462111/sosok-yang-laporkan-ganjar-ke-kpk-ternyata-pengurus-psi
• “Not acting on PSI order”, IPW Chairman Sugeng On Reporting Ganjar to Anti-Graft Agency
• https://kumparan.com/kumparannews/ketua-ipw-yang-laporkan-ganjar-ke-kpk-ternyata-kader-psi-bantah-motif-politik-22IR7OSp4b3/1
• https://nasional.kompas.com/read/2024/03/06/06041971/ganjar-dilaporkan-ke-kpk-di-tengah-wacana-penggunaan-hak-angket-kecurangan
• https://nasional.tempo.co/read/1841496/pelaporan-terhadap-ganjar-ke-kpk-dinilai-bermuatan-politis-jubir-tpn-pelapor-kader-psi
• https://nasional.kompas.com/read/2024/03/05/11565571/ganjar-pranowo-dilaporkan-ke-kpk-atas-dugaan-gratifikasi