The Revolusi Is Being Televised

I came home to find all my tribe clustered around their TV listening to the recordings of the nigh on 70 wiretaps which SBY has ordered the Costitutional Court to investigate as to their veracity. These are recordings of conversations between Anggoro and his brother Anggodo with high-ranking prosecutors and police officers discussing in July a plot to frame KPK leaders, recording leaked to the media in the past week. We listened along with their Courtships and, presumably, almost the entire population of Indonesia as the proceedings were relayed by the majority of the terrestrial channels.

The recordings appear to demonstrate a conspiracy to implicate the two deputy chairmen of the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK), Chandra M. Hamzah and Bibit Samad Rianto, who were detained on Thursday on allegations of abuse of power, bribery and extortion involving businessman Anggoro Widjojo. He is alleged to have bribed Chandra and Bibit through middlemen Ari Muladi and Edi Soemarsono. Ari has since retracted his statement concerning the accusation.

There is a suggestion that SBY wrote a letter to Anggoro Widjojo, who, as I type this is chainsmoking and prevaricating live on TVone.

The chief of detectives, Comr. Susno Duadji, met Anggoro in Singapore whilst he was being sought by the KPK which was investigating his company, PT Masaro Radiokom, which is the regular telecommunications contractor for the police, the military and the intelligence agencies - rent seekers all.

The KPK has been outstandingly successful in prosecuting politicians, senior bureaucrats, including prosecutors and bankers such as the father-in-law of SBY's son and businessmen. No less than 152 politicians have been implicated in graft.

Another, frightening, suggestion is that Chandra would be killed if he were sent to prison - he is currently held in the Police HQ. SBY has instructed the National Police Chief to ensure his safety and that of Bibit.

The rakyat (public) are angry, very angry, with demonstrations throughout the country and expressions of support coming from many legislators, both past and present, media folk, celebrities, students and every twitterer and blogger with an opinion about the just society they (we) want to be part of.

Yep, this is a veritable shitstorm

Hopefully this is the lancing of a massive boil, the release of all those poisons which have put reformasi in jeopardy. The notion of impunity because of societal rank can no longer be allowed. The people have voted and now they are ready to articulate what they want their representatives to do, and how they want it done.

Personally, I do hope that this affair isn't going to be SBY's Watergate. That, like Nixon, he has just won re-election by a landslide should not be taken as an omen.

Amen.
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Timeline
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I leave the daily details of what the left and right hands are doing to the Post and Globe.