PDI-P Secretary General Hasto Kristiyanto Being Entangled in Duel Legal Cases
By Aryo Putranto Saptohutomo for Kompas.com, June 5, 2024
JAKARTA, Kompas.com – Hasto Kristiyanto, the Secretary General of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), is currently in the public spotlight because of legal problems. Hasto is being entangled in two separate cases being handled by different law enforcement agencies.
Information and Electronic Transactions Law
The first case involves allegations of incitement. Hasto was reported to the police following comments he made during an interview with a national television station concerning allegations of electoral fraud during this year’s presidential election. Hasto was reported to Jakarta District Police Headquarters by two individuals, Hendra and Bayu Setiawan, in March 2024 through the Integrated Police Service Center (SPKT) of Jakarta’s provincial police headquarters.
In this case, Hasto is suspected of incitement and/or spreading electronic information and/or documents containing false news causing public unrest, in breach of Article 160 and Article 28 paragraph (3) of Indonesia’s national Criminal Code and Article 45A paragraph (3) of Law No. 1/2024 Concerning the Second Amendment to Law No. 11/2008 On Information and Electronic Transactions. Hasto attended for questioning at Jakarta District Police Headquarters on Tuesday, June 4, 2024. He said that by attending he was acting as a responsible, law-abiding citizen.
“And because we are a country of laws, not a country of arbitrary power, I came with good intentions to respond to the summons served on me,” Hasto said. He also denied the accusations of spreading false news, or inciting the public. He explained that his statements were intended as political communication to the public. “Perhaps other statements I made were made in discharge of my responsibility to provide political education and my function of political communication,” Hasto added.
Harun Masiku
In addition to the case at Jakarta District Police Headquarters, Hasto will also be questioned by Indonesia’s Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) in relation to new information about a fugitive in a bribery case involving the alleged in-term appointment of House of Representatives member Harun Masiku. Harun, a former member of Hasto’s Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle, is a suspect in the case of the alleged bribing of a commissioner of Indonesia’s national General Elections Commission (KPU), Wahyu Setiawan, for the 2019 period.
However, Harun fled and has been on the most-wanted list of the Corruption Eradication Commission for the last four years. Commission spokesman Ali Fikri said that new information has been received relating to Harun Masiku’s whereabouts. “To confirm the information the Commission has received,” Ali said, at the Commission’s offices in Jakarta yesterday.
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Ali claimed that the Corruption Eradication Commission would summon Hasto next week to be questioned as a witness in the matter. However, he admitted he had not yet confirmed whether the investigation team had sent the summons.
“We haven’t confirmed the timing, and whether the summons has been sent, but it has been scheduled,” Ali said. The case involving Harun Masiku was uncovered in a sting operation conducted by the anti-graft agency on January 8, 2020. As a result of the operation, the Commission’s team had arrested eight people and named four as suspects.
The four suspects are General Elections Commission Commissioner Wahyu Setiawan, former General Elections Supervisory Board member Agustiani Tio Fridelina, PDI-P member Saeful Bahri, and Harun Masiku. Three out of the four suspects have been sentenced to prison. However, at the time, Harun escaped, evading arrest.
Corruption Eradication Commission investigators were last aware of Harun’s whereabouts in the vicinity of Indonesia’s national Police Science College (PTIK) in South Jakarta. Harun remains at large and is on the most-wanted list. Harun is suspected of bribing Wahyu and Agustiani to facilitate his appointment as a House Representative member.
This article is based on https://nasional.kompas.com/read/2024/06/05/07564491/saat-sekjen-pdi-p-ada-di-pusaran-2-kasus-hukum.
In earlier reporting…
PDI-P Secretary General Hasto Suspects Police Summons Ordered From Above
By Nicholas Ryan Aditya, Achmad Nasrudin Yahya for Kompas.com, June 3, 2024
JAKARTA, Kompas.com – Secretary General of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), Hasto Kristiyanto, suspects that there is an orchestrated direction behind his summons to attend Jakarta District Police Headquarters on Tuesday, June 4, 2024.
According to Hasto, the purpose of the direction is none other than to criminalize him. However, Hasto did not elaborate on who might be behind the alleged direction.
“Yes, there was definitely an order. There must have been an order to summons me because of my critical stance on allegations of electoral fraud,” said Hasto during an interview at the University of Indonesia (UI) in the West Java city of Depok on Monday, June 3, 2024.
Hasto has been summoned to Jakarta District Police Headquarters in connection with his interview on a television station during which he revealed allegations of fraud during the 2024 presidential elections. Hasto expressed surprise at receiving the summons, as he believed he was simply speaking the truth about the 2024 elections.
According to Hasto, allegations of electoral fraud have also been voiced in various academic studies and field study findings. “There have been instances of village heads being intimidated, regional heads being intimidated, and the press being intimidated. Then when a community complaint is voiced the legal process moves swiftly,” he said.
Comparing this to other cases such as corruption, illegal mining, and banking, Hasto remarked that these cases seem to be processed slowly, or even ignored by the police. “We, the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle, have a backlog of issues that remains unresolved. When one of our offices was hit by a Molotov cocktail, or when a laptop containing strategic information was stolen, those cases were not acted on,” he said. “Meanwhile, the people raising issues about improving the quality of democracy are the ones being processed,” continued the politician originally from the city of Yogyakarta.
When asked if he would attend Jakarta police headquarters alone or be accompanied, Hasto disclosed that PDI-P’s task force and branch administrators did want to accompany him.
However, he has asked them not to attend and to remain calm. “Amid the darkness hanging over the country’s democracy, and the darkness hanging over those in power, we have to fight for the truth within the law,” said Hasto. “So I urge everyone not to come. I will go accompanied by legal advisors,” he concluded.
According to information received by the media, Hasto has been summoned by police for questioning in relation to allegations of incitement and/or disseminating electronic information and/or documents containing false news causing public unrest, as provided for by Articles 160 and 28 paragraph (3) of the Criminal Code and Article 45A paragraph (3) of Law No. 1/2024 Concerning the Second Amendment to Law No. 11/2008 On Information and Electronic Transactions.
The incidents in question allegedly took place on March 16, 2024, and March 19, 2024, in front of Indonesia’s House of Representatives building at Jenderal Gatot Subroto Street and in the Central Jakarta suburb of Gambir. The complainants are Hendra and Bayu Setiawan, who lodged complaints at the Integrated Police Service Center (SPKT) of Jakarta’s District Police Headquarters.
This article is based on https://nasional.kompas.com/read/2024/06/03/20094671/hasto-curiga-ada-orderan-di-balik-pemanggilannya-ke-polda-metro-jaya.
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