Yasonna Is Advised To Be Careful When Issuing Statements

Menkumham Yasonna H Laoly (Mery Handayani / VOI)

JAKARTA - A week ago the name of the Minister of Law and Security (Menkumham) Yassona Laoly was widely discussed by the public because of her statement. Yasonna was considered a blunder and disadvantaged President Joko Widodo because of his statement.

One of Yassona's blunders was related to the existence of a KPK fugitive, Harun Masiku, who was a suspect in giving bribes to the former KPU commissioner, Wahyu Setiawan.

Yasonna had mentioned that Harun was abroad when the KPK conducted an arrest operation against Wahyu Setiawan and several other people. Yasonna and Harun are both PDI-P cadres.

But lately, the Directorate General of Immigration Ronny F Sompie corrected and said that Harun had returned to Indonesia, when the OTT was carried out by the KPK. They argued that the system change at Terminal 2F at Soekarno-Hatta Airport was the culprit for the delay in information.

A political observer from Al Azhar University Indonesia, Ujang Komarudin, said that as a public official, Yassona should start to be careful with his statements. He also asked Menkumham to start separating party interests because there was an impression that Yassona had deliberately set up a body for his party in the case that ensnared Harun Masiku.

"A minister, including Yasonna, don't just talk. Don't just put up a body for his party, but talk must be based on facts and data," Ujang told VOI via text message, Monday, January 27.

In addition, the impression of covering up Harun Masiku's existence is also considered to have had an impact on President Jokowi's administration. Moreover, according to Ujang, Yassona as Menkumham became the representative of government in the eyes of the public.

"Yasonna is Jokowi's assistant, so when the minister is considered to have lied to the public with his statement, of course this has a negative impact on Jokowi," he said.

As a result of the confusion of information on Harun Masiku's whereabouts, President Jokowi asked all his subordinates to be careful in submitting statements to the public.

"I just want, I just ordered, leave it to all ministers, all officials, if you make a statement carefully," said Jokowi at the Presidential Palace, Jakarta, Friday, January 24.

"Especially with regard to numbers, especially those relating to data, especially those relating to information, be careful, be careful. Do not let the information from below directly be received without first cross-checking," he added.

The former governor of DKI Jakarta does not know whether there was miscommunication or a deliberate factor in the confusing whereabouts of Harun Masiku. However, he certainly asked his ministers to be careful in delivering statements.

"What is clear is that everyone must be careful in making statements. Especially those relating to the law, be careful," he said.

In the Harun Masiku case, the KPK appointed General Election Commission (KPU) commissioner Wahyu Setiawan as a suspect in receiving bribes related to the appointment of members of the Indonesian Parliament for the 2019-2024 period. He was appointed as a recipient of bribes, along with Agustiani Tio Fridelina (ATF) who is a former member of the Election Supervisory Agency (Bawaslu) who are his confidants.

The givers of bribes were Harun Masiku (HAR) who was a candidate from the PDI-P in the 2019 Pileg and Saeful who was called a private party but was suspected of being one of the party's top staff.

However, until now the KPK has only detained three people in this case. This is because Harun's whereabouts are not yet known after he was previously declared to have fled to Singapore.