Lily Wahid, Gus Dur's Sister Who Was Passionate About Gayus Tambunan's Tax Mafia Questionnaire, Was Once Defended By Bamsoet When PKB Was 'kicked'

JAKARTA - Who does not know the late Hj. Lily Chodidjah Wahid or who is familiarly called Lily Wahid while serving as a member of the Indonesian House of Representatives. The younger brother of Gus Dur is a politician who is brave and vocal in voicing his opinion even though it is different from his party, the National Awakening Party (PKB).

Lily was one of the initiators with fellow politicians across factions who took the initiative to form Team Nine. This team initiated the proposal to use the DPR's inquiry right to investigate the case of disbursing Rp 6.7 trillion of funds to Century Bank.

In addition, Lily is listed as the initiator of the Tax Questionnaire Right. The proposal for a tax questionnaire that emerged after the tax mafia and legal mafia cases involving Gayus Halomoan Tambunan surfaced.

Unmitigated, the Gayus case has dragged on many parties, including three Polri generals, such as the former Head of Criminal Investigation Unit of the National Police Komjen Susno Duadji, former Director II of Special Economics/Kapolda Lampung Brigadier General Edmond Ilyas and Director II of Special Economics Brigadier General Raja Erizman.

Lily's decision to support the tax questionnaire was not without reason, although it caused high resistance from PKB. According to Lily, only the right of inquiry instrument has the investigative authority to uncover the performance of the Directorate General of Taxes and the entire mafia network.

"While the Panja does not have that wide of authority, if only with Panja until I shave my head, I will not be able to dismantle the tax mafia," said Lily.

Due to Lily's firm stance, PKB then 'kicked' her from the party even though it was diplomatically stated that the reason for her dismissal was not because of Lily's activity in the Tax Questionnaire or Century.

Anwar Rachman, PKB Muhaimin's attorney during the trial of Lily and Effendi's lawsuit against PKB, at the Central Jakarta District Court, Tuesday, May 3 2011, stated that there were 10 reasons for Muhaimin's PKB to fire Lily and Effendi Choirie.

Lily and Effendi were judged to have violated organizational rules and deliberately failed to carry out their obligations as party members. Another reason is that Lily and Effendi do not want to acknowledge the leadership of the DPP PKB Muhaimin Iskandar.

"It was known based on the results of the search and research of the Joint Team which was formed to find out their political mistakes," said Anwar.

Meanwhile, Hermawi F. Taslim, the attorney for Lily and Effendi, said the reasons for the dismissal submitted by PKB were a lie and were being sought.

"I need to say that our client is very loyal to the people while the PKB party has gone through the process of pawning, I am the chairman of the PKB DPP for 10 years. I know everything," he said.

Regarding the problem of Lily and PKB, as many as 5 members of the council rallied to support and asked the PKB DPP to revoke the proposed letter of Interim Change. The five DPR members are Bambang Soesatyo from FPG, Trimedia Pandjaitan from F-PDI-P, Desmond J Mahendra from F Gerindra, Syarifudin Suddeng from F Hanura and Ahmad Yani from F PPP.

"We will garner support for Lily Wahid and Effendi Choirie and ask the PKB DPP to withdraw the second PAW proposal," said Bambang Sosatyo, who served as a member of Commission III last Thursday, March 17, 2011.

Bambang said that what Lily Wahid and Effendi Choirie did was solely for the public interest, not their own interests. Meanwhile, for Trimedia Pandjaitan, the PKB decision was unexpected.

"I don't think PKB is so repressive towards its members who support the right to tax inquiries by suddenly recalling it," said Trimedia.

There is indeed the authority of political parties. However, he stressed, the Head of the PKB DPP Muhaimin Iskandar must calculate so that his steps do not become politically flawed.

"Perhaps there is pressure from the authorities, the Chair of the Secretariat of the Secretariat, so that Muhaimin has the heart to his friend," said Trimedia.