Habib
Husein: |
[foreign
language] |
Narrator: |
Taufiq
Kiemas has every reason to be laughing. He's one of
the most powerful men in Indonesia today. But even here, he's still
relatively unknown. Who is he? He's the husband of Vice President Megawati Sukarnoputri.
Sooner or later, she'll be president, and when that happens his power will be
even greater. That prospect is causing some concern. |
George
A.: |
Taufiq
Kiemas is a power broker par excellence. He has
been working hard to get his men and women in the party, in the whole
political party apparatus, and eventually, he began to develop this political
apparatus into a kind of business network. Makes one question who will be the
future president of Indonesia? Is it Megawati Sukarnoputri or is it actually
Taufiq Kiemas? |
Taufiq
Kiemas: |
[foreign
language] |
Narrator: |
Megawati's
Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle, or PDI-P, emerged as the strongest
after Suharto's fall and is now well on its way to government. |
Speaker
3: |
[foreign
language] |
Narrator: |
Considering
that Taufiq Kiemas has no official role in the
PDI-P, his influence over party affairs is extraordinary. |
Mokhtar
Bukhari: |
Perhaps
his financial assistance to functionaries within the headquarters enable him
to make the executive council do whatever he wishes to be done. |
Arifin
Panigoro: |
Being
husband of a chairwoman, I think it's a defacto. I
can say that. Yeah, he is strong. |
Dr. Ning: |
[foreign
language] |
Narrator: |
He's
no Denis Thatcher, sipping gin at home while his wife, Margaret, went off to
work. Perhaps a more accurate comparison would be with the husband of the
former Pakistani Prime Minister, Benazir Bhutto, whose business activities
didn't stand up to scrutiny and who triggered her downfall. It's said that
Megawati herself has referred to her husband as the "Bhutto
factor," and senior party members are well aware of the potential
problem. |
Arifin
Panigoro: |
I
am so confident he is smart enough to understand that once his wife become
the president, he should behave to become a husband of a president.
Otherwise, there is already a bad experience happen to Benazir Bhutto in
Pakistan. |
Taufiq
Kiemas: |
[foreign
language] |
Narrator: |
The
lines are becoming increasingly blurred. Many former politicians from
Suharto's New Order regime have been quietly crossing over to the next party
or government, the PDI-P, often with Taufiq's blessing. |
Dr. Ning: |
[foreign
language] |
Narrator: |
Former
President Suharto's New Order, with its rampant corruption and nepotism, left
Indonesia in ruins. The prospect of a new New Order
being built up around the PDI-P alarms party loyalists. |
Dr. Ning: |
[foreign
language] |
Speaker
2: |
[foreign
language] |
Narrator: |
The
PIP's long-term supporters have had enough and are about to march to party
headquarters to demand the newcomers' expulsion. Taufiq Kiemas
heard about the plans and immediately called the organiser, Dr. Ning. |
Dr. Ning: |
[foreign
language] |
Crowd: |
[foreign
language] |
Narrator: |
Despite
Taufiq's attempts to water down the protest, Dr.
Ning and her colleagues are going ahead with their plan to march on their own
party headquarters. |
Crowd: |
[foreign
language] |
Narrator: |
Megawati's
cavalcade escaped just in time. |
Crowd: |
[foreign
language] |
Narrator: |
The
officials under siege inside will have to wait for things to calm down. |
Crowd: |
[foreign
language] |
Speaker
3: |
[foreign
language] |
Crowd: |
[foreign
language] |
Dr. Ning: |
[foreign
language] |
Crowd: |
[foreign
language] |
Narrator: |
Their
main target is millionaire, Arifin Panigoro. He was
a leading figure in the New Order. He's now the leader of the PDI-P's
parliamentary faction and he's currently under investigation for corruption. |
Arifin
Panigoro: |
Get
rid all of this, Orde Baru
clan, from the party. |
Interviewer: |
So
that's you, they're talking about. |
Arifin
Panigoro: |
It's
me. |
Crowd: |
[foreign
language] |
Arifin
Panigoro: |
[foreign
language] Last week, it's more for myself. "Arifin, Arifin,
Arifin." |
Interviewer: |
Yeah?
Does it make you feel proud that you're suddenly famous? Or- |
Arifin
Panigoro: |
No,
no, no. |
Interviewer: |
Angry?
Or ... |
Arifin
Panigoro: |
I'm
famous already. I don't need their effort to make me more famous, you know? |
Interviewer: |
Thank
you very much, yeah? |
Speaker
4: |
Remember,
it is more important to be human than to be important. |
Arifin
Panigoro: |
The
statement that he's saying, it's very, very important. |
Narrator: |
Arifin
Panigoro may be unpopular, but he's very important
to the PDI-P. He's an oil baron and it's an open secret that his fortune is
now filling the party's war chest. |
Arifin
Panigoro: |
I
have enough money. Yeah, yeah. I [inaudible] so I'm going to participate in
an activity. I can contribute some of the money. |
Narrator: |
But
perhaps more important is his circle of rich friends, a group he can squeeze
for money. |
Arifin
Panigoro: |
I
have lots of friends. I have some friends that I can ... What shall I say? |
Narrator: |
Taufiq
Kiemas is the PDI-P's other main fundraiser. He too
has been able to channel money from oil into his wife's party. This petrol
station is 1 of 12 he owns around Jakarta. It was once the PDI-P's only
source of funds. |
Taufiq
Kiemas: |
[foreign
language] |
Narrator: |
[Mokhtar
Bukhari] is one of the PDI-P's elder statesmen and used to be very close to
Megawati. |
Mokhtar
Bukhari: |
Around
her, even now, there are number of groups competing for favour from her side.
Number one is the group of her husband, Taufiq Kiemas,
is number one. And second, the group of the so-called newcomers. |
Narrator: |
He
finds the whole thing rather vulgar, the rapid moral decline of his party,
but his calls for a cleanup led to his removal. |
Mokhtar
Bukhari: |
I
don't want to be part of this rotting process within the party. |
Narrator: |
So
what do you want? |
Mokhtar
Bukhari: |
Yeah.
I want to have a clean party. So they kicked me out. |
Narrator: |
Ask
him about Taufiq, and he's scathing. |
Mokhtar
Bukhari: |
The
stories I heard about him is really unbelievable. For instance, he let a
tailor from Rome come into Indonesia just to take his measurement. He went to
South Africa to buy luxury cars. And how many cars does she have? |
Narrator: |
22
according to documents presented to state auditors. Megawati and Taufiq
declared personal assets worth more than 10 million Australian dollars. |
|
George
Aditjondro has investigated graft and corruption in
the inner circles of three presidents, Suharto, Habibie, and Abdurrahman
Wahid. Logically, his attention is now turning to Megawati and her inner
circle. He says there are already indications that Taufiq's activities may
involve violations of Indonesian law. |
George
A.: |
If
you involve your cronies from the same party in a business in order to build
the war chest of that party, there are very big chances that you're violating
two laws, law number two and law number three of '99. And the very fact that
the '99 election was won with a lot of political donations, which were much
beyond the allowed limit, and also with a lot of money splashed around the
country to win the votes, means that the '99 election did not clean up the
corrupt practises of the previous regime. |
Narrator: |
Although
everyone has a story about Taufiq Kiemas, actual
evidence of wrongdoing is difficult to find. But Mokhtar Bukhari says Taufiq
is attempting to buy the support of fellow party members. The Italian tailor
story indicates the way he operates. |
Mokhtar
Bukhari: |
I
heard it from a friend who was offered a suit from the same tailor, and he
accepted it. And I also- |
Narrator: |
Did
Taufiq pay the bill? |
Mokhtar
Bukhari: |
Yeah,
yeah. He wanted to buy a house [inaudible] and he do, "Oh, no. I have my
own house. And that's not luxury house, but I am happy in that house." |
Narrator: |
And
why offer to buy him a new house? Bukhari says it's to collect a group of
people who owe him favours. |
Mokhtar
Bukhari: |
Because
the more people you have in the party, in the organisation, the more power
you have. You can manipulate the organisation. Every party functional, at
every level, from the district up to the senator level, they seem to be very
enjoying very prosperous life. |
Narrator: |
Newly- |
Mokhtar
Bukhari: |
Yeah. |
Narrator: |
Newly
prosperous. |
Mokhtar
Bukhari: |
Yeah,
yeah. The nouveau riche. |
Taufiq
Kiemas: |
[foreign
language] |
Narrator: |
There
is one PDI-P official who will never be bought, although with her home
collapsing around her, she could do with the money. Dr.
Ning was a delegate at a party congress last year, where debates centred on
whether or not Megawati should continue as the party's executive leader. Now,
she was the vice president. Dr. Ning didn't think
it appropriate, but Taufiq Kiemas disagreed. His
view was that Mega should retain both positions. |
Dr. Ning: |
[foreign
language] |
Speaker
5: |
[foreign
language] |
Narrator: |
Taufiq
knows Dr. Ning well, and as they were voting, he
called her. |
Dr. Ning: |
[foreign
language] |
Taufiq
Kiemas: |
[foreign
language] |
Crowd: |
[foreign
language] |
Narrator: |
There
was a time when such a split or dynamic wouldn't have been so important, when
Megawati was leading a minority party and Taufiq was just a businessman, but
the events of mid-1996 changed all of that. After a standoff lasting several
weeks, on the 27th of July, Suharto's soldiers and thugs attacked then PDI
headquarters in Jakarta. Public sympathy for the brave housewife soared.
After all, she'd stood up to the dictator. |
Speaker
6: |
Before
that, I mean, we trying very hard to unite the people who are against
Suharto, but they are still in the separate factions. But the 27th of July,
she becomes a symbol of resistance against Suharto. |
Narrator: |
In
the days of violence that followed, Dr. Ning, a
medical doctor, treated hundreds of victims of state-sponsored thuggery.
Scores of young activists were killed, and to this day, many are still
missing. |
Dr. Ning: |
[foreign
language] |
Crowd: |
[foreign
language] |
Dr. Ning: |
[foreign
language] |
Narrator: |
At
a memorial celebration on the first anniversary, she was arrested and her
daughter became Indonesia's youngest political prisoner. Only 33-days-old,
she too, was incarcerated. It was Megawati herself who bailed them out. |
Crowd: |
[foreign
language] |
Narrator: |
The
symbolism of July 27th, 1996 became central to the party's identity. Five
years on, it's now central to the party's disunity. No one has ever been
prosecuted for the attack on PDI headquarters, and it now looks as though
elements in the PDI-P itself have no desire to see the past revisited. |
Speaker
6: |
There
is no state answer, political response, or moral response from the PDI-P.
This is the wound of the past. Has to be clarified. |
Narrator: |
The
generals that ordered that attack are now retired, and the field commander of
the troops, former General Sutiyoso, is now
Jakarta's governor and a close friend of the Kiemas
family. |
Taufiq
Kiemas: |
[foreign
language] |
Narrator: |
With
such a turnaround by Megawati, suspicions now rage that a deal has been done,
a promise of impunity in return for support and favours. After all, if you
want to do business in Jakarta, Governor Sutiyoso
is an essential contact. |
George
A.: |
I
think those theories really make sense. Why is it that first, there was so
much noise about Sutiyoso's role in the 27 July,
'96 attack on the PDI headquarters, but suddenly it died off? |
Narrator: |
George
Aditjondro says Taufiq is lobbying hard to win big
infrastructure projects around the country. If he's to win contracts in
Jakarta, then he'll need the support of a man who was once his mortal enemy. |
George
A.: |
The
Jakarta Outer Ring Road project and the proposed Matahari
Island Gambling Centre are the two megaprojects, or two big projects, which
you can call it "sweetheart deals" to get Sutiyoso
off the hook. People with a lousy human rights track can remain in power,
like in the Suharto period, by brokering deals with politicians. |
Narrator: |
With
instability the order of the day throughout Indonesia, control of the party
and its financing is not enough to win power. Taufiq also needs his own
private armies of which he controls three. On rumours that the city's petrol
stations would be attacked by students protesting fuel price rises, the
party's official paramilitary wing, satgas, went on
a 24-hour rotating guard, but not at all the city's petrol stations, only
those run by Taufiq Kiemas. 200 metres down the
road, workers at a rival station would have to defend themselves alone. It
was clear the security apparatus was only following orders, the party's
security wing protecting the family's business. |
Speaker
7: |
[foreign
language] |
Taufiq
Kiemas: |
[foreign
language] |
Audience: |
[foreign
language] |
Narrator: |
Notorious
militiaman, Eurico Guterres, is head of the Jakarta
branch of the party's second paramilitary force, the BMI. And the founder of
this proud group is none other than Taufiq's younger brother, Nazarudin Kiemas. Nazarudin can't see any problem at all with Eurico's involvement. |
Interviewer: |
[foreign
language] |
Nazarudin K.: |
[foreign
language] |
Interviewer: |
[foreign
language] |
Nazarudin K.: |
[foreign
language] |
Pius
L.: |
[foreign
language] |
Soldier: |
[foreign
language] |
Narrator: |
The
third party militia, Brigass, is led by Pius Lustrilanang. |
Pius
L.: |
[foreign
language] |
Narrator: |
Pius
now leads 1,000 thugs and his allegiance to Taufiq is clear. |
Pius
L.: |
[foreign
language] |
Narrator: |
Pius,
like Taufiq Kiemas, is from Palembang in South
Sumatra. George Aditjondro sees a pattern emerging
with these hometown contacts. He calls them the "Palembang Mafia." |
George
A.: |
The
Palembang Mafia is simply a catchword to show how Taufiq Kiemas
began to build his power base within the parliament, the national parliament,
and also within the party, with a lot of people who come from Palembang, from
South Sumatra. The Palembang Mafia has been successfully incorporating some
leaders from the student movement and from the pro-democracy movement, who
are now working very closely not just with Taufiq Kiemas,
but with the Kiemas brothers, to protect their
business interests and to enhance their business interests. |
Nazarudin K.: |
[foreign
language] |
Pius
L.: |
[foreign
language] |
Brigass: |
[foreign
language] |
Narrator: |
It's
ironic that a party once known for its anti-military stance now operates
three paramilitary forces. Pius embodies this contradiction. He was once a student
leader and pacifist kidnapped by the military for his anti-militarism in the
dying days of the Suharto regime. |
Pius
L.: |
[foreign
language] |
Brigass: |
[foreign
language] |
Narrator: |
In
a bizarre back flip, Pius has embraced the militarism of his captives, whose
brutality he now refuses to condemn. |
Pius
L.: |
[foreign
language] |
|
(singing) |
Narrator: |
Now,
no one wishes to be publicly associated with Suharto. It's his charismatic
predecessor, Sukarno, Indonesia's first president, whose memory is enjoying a
massive comeback. Taufiq's ticket to power and influence comes from being
married to Megawati Sukarnoputri. Sukarnoputri means "daughter of
Sukarno." |
Speaker
8: |
[Foreign
language] |
Narrator: |
This
is Rachmawati Sukarnoputri, Sukarno's second daughter.
She, too, is treated like a feudal queen wherever she goes. These devotees
see in her the embodiment of their beloved former leader. To them, it doesn't
really matter which daughter it is. |
Crowd: |
[foreign
language] |
Narrator: |
And
here, in East Java, in the town her father is buried, both sisters have
arrived, alongside hundreds of thousands of supporters, all hoping to get
close to the Sukarno magic. |
Speaker
9: |
[foreign
language] |
Narrator: |
One
of his nine wives, Dewi Sukarno, came all the way
from Tokyo. Her most recent claim to fame was for slapping Imelda Marcos at a
society party. [Pamadi] the Mystic showed up. He
claims to be the conduit to Sukarno in the afterlife. And the other Sukarno
children, Sukmawati, Guntur, and Guruh. |
Crowd: |
[foreign
language] |
Narrator: |
When
the president spoke, he was upstaged by a noisy part of the crowd, who
perhaps saw him as a gatecrasher at a family
gathering. |
Crowd: |
[foreign
language] |
Abdurrahman
W.: |
[foreign
language] |
Narrator: |
Then
their hero, not scheduled to speak, decided she would. |
Megawati
S.: |
[foreign
language] |
Narrator: |
Meanwhile,
Taufiq has been using his wife's name to open doors in capital cities around
the world. In New Delhi, the man who holds no official role in his party, met
the prime minister and president. In Washington, he was given top-level
access to government and military figures. And trips are planned to Tokyo,
Beijing, and Kuala Lumpur. |
|
In
Jakarta, at his wife's official residence, he's working hard on the domestic
front. This is raw politics, Indonesian style. First, gather all your
opponents and then start cutting the deals. Taufiq the operator revels in
this role. Tonight, he's playing host to some very important guests. First,
there's Yapto, the undisputed godfather of the
nation's many gangsters, a friend to the Suharto kids, and until recently,
the head of the organisation which led the charge on Megawati's headquarters
on that fateful 27th of July. But here, all of that is incidental. |
Interviewer: |
Mr.
Yapto. |
Yapto: |
I'm
taking care of Mr. Taufiq. |
Interviewer: |
His
security? |
Yapto: |
Huh? |
Interviewer: |
His
security? |
Yapto: |
As
a good friend. |
Taufiq
Kiemas: |
[inaudible] |
Yapto: |
He
got a lot of securities around him. |
Male: |
[foreign
language] |
Narrator: |
[Habib
Husein] is a Muslim cleric who spent 12 years in
prison for bombing the Buddhist temple, Borobudur. The global Islamic group
he belongs to was responsible for the assassination of Egyptian president,
Anwar Sadat. He also controls a militia force, the [Pasukan]
Mujahidin. Considering past Islamic opposition to Taufiq's wife becoming
president, Habib is most welcome here tonight. |
Taufiq
Kiemas: |
[foreign
language] |
George
A.: |
It
seems that Taufiq Kiemas becomes a more and more important
political operator to reckon with, that he can now build links between
Megawati and forces of the New Order, like a person like Yapto,
as well as the forces of the transition order, the Habibie period, when more
and more Muslim groups, militant Muslim groups, started to emerge. |
Taufiq
Kiemas: |
[foreign
language] |
Interviewer: |
[foreign
language] |
Taufiq
Kiemas: |
[foreign
language] |
Interviewer: |
[foreign
language] |
Habib
Husein: |
[foreign
language] |
Narrator: |
What
brings them all together, apart from opportunism, is their mutual desire to
see the back of President Gus Dur, whom they all supported at first. |
Taufiq
Kiemas: |
[foreign
language] |
Narrator: |
But
the company Taufiq and Megawati keep doesn't inspire much hope for democracy
and anti-militarism, which were once core party platforms. |
Taufiq
Kiemas: |
[foreign
language] |
Narrator: |
Rachmawati wonders why all those who once lobbied so strongly
against her sister are now her greatest allies. |
Rachmawati S.: |
[foreign
language] |
Narrator: |
In
fact, it's quite possible that Taufiq Kiemas is a
mere puppet in a much bigger show, that the people he's reaching out to for
support could hold the seeds of his wife's destruction. In post-Suharto
Indonesia, there is always a power behind the power behind the throne. And
journalist and editor, Aristides Katoppo, believes
there is already a move planned against Megawati, a repeat of the campaign
against Gus Dur. In this plot, Mega's husband will
be the key. |
Aristides
K.: |
They
will do the same thing, including character assassination, a lot of
disinformation, a lot of, well, essentially undermining the authority of
Megawati. And one means is, of course, to create suspicion about people close
around her, and why not begin with her husband? I think they take their
inspiration from what happened in Pakistan, and some people say that, in
fact, the code name of the operation is "Benazir," you know? |