Johnny Plate: Procurement Of BTS Is The Implementation Of President Jokowi's Directives

Former Minister of Communication and Information (Menkominfo) Johnny G. Plate underwent a trial with the agenda of reading the objection note (exception) / ANTARA

JAKARTA - Former Minister of Communication and Information (Menkominfo) Johnny G. Plate said the construction of a 4G base transceiver station (BTS) in 2020-2022 was the implementation of President Joko Widodo's directive, not his personal wish. "The provision of 4G BTS is said to be the purpose of 'robbing state money', especially with a narrative as if there was an increase in BTS 4G 2021 — 2024 so that it becomes 7,904 sites for periods without going through studies, even though the fact is that the procurement of BTS 4G 2021 — 2022 is the explanation of the implementation of the President of the Republic of Indonesia's directives which was delivered in various limited meetings and cabinet internal meetings," said Johnny G. Plate's legal adviser, Dion Pongkor, while reading the objection note (exception) at the Corruption Court (Tipikor) Jakarta, Antara, Tuesday, July 4. In the indictment read out on June 27, 2023, it was stated that Johnny G. Plate approved the change from 5,052 village sites for the BTS 4G program in 2020 — 2024 to 7,904 village sites in 2021 — 2022 without going through a feasibility study of the need for the provision of 4G BTS infrastructure and without any study in the Ministry of Communication and Information's Strategic Business Plan (RBS) document and the Budget Business Plan (RBA) which is part of the Ministry of State/Institutional Budget Plan (RKA-K/L) of the Ministry of Communication and Information. "First, a limited cabinet meeting on May 12, 2020 at 11.09 WIB through a video conference, the President at the Merdeka Palace, Jakarta, regarding the Acceleration of Digital Transformation for MSME Actors. There is a directive from the President to accelerate digital transformation for MSME actors," said Dion. Furthermore, second, a limited cabinet meeting on June 4, 2020 at 13.36 WIB via video conference, President Jokowi at the Merdeka Palace chaired a meeting on "Meta Jalan Pendidikan Year 2020 —2035". "There is a President's direction to the defendant to convey a list of telecommunication infrastructure investment needs containing the required infrastructure and budget shortages, both private and government investments, this is done in the context of national digitization," added Dion. The third meeting was a cabinet internal meeting on July 29, 2020 at 10.57 WIB at the Merdeka Palace, Jakarta, regarding the procurement of activity programs in the food sector, industrial estate, and Information Communication Technology (ICT). "In the meeting, the President explained, first, based on the calculation of the Minister of Finance, there was an additional fiscal space of Rp. 179 trillion because there was an increase in the APBN deficit of Rp. 38 trillion used for education as mandated by law and Rp. 9 trillion for health, meaning that there is still fiscal space of Rp. 131 trillion which is locked for only three things, namely matters related to food, industrial areas and ICT," explained Dion. Regarding ICT, Johnny Plate as the Minister of Communication and Information at that time was asked to provide an explanation regarding whether or not the BTS tower was needed, as well as underwater fiber optics, who was the party working on the private sector or the government and other matters related to the ICT. "Fourth, the cabinet internal meeting on July 16, 2020 at 13.28 at the Merdeka Palace, Jakarta, regarding the follow-up to digital transformation (Meta Jalan Indonesia Digital 2021 — 2024), there is a directive from the President of the Republic of Indonesia that the speed of digital transformation in all sectors is something the government expects," said Dion. Fifth, a cabinet limited meeting on August 3, 2020 at 11.24 WIB at the Merdeka Palace, Jakarta, regarding the acceleration of digital transformation. "The President gave directions for the completion of Information Communication Technology (ICT) infrastructure, namely BTS development in 9,113 villages or sub-districts with 1 BTS per village/kelurahan is a priority that will be carried out by the Ministry of Communication and Information," added Dion. Based on the description above, Plate's legal adviser said that related to the procurement or construction of BTS 4G 2021 — 2022, there is no limited increase in the number of BTS development targets to 7,904 sites. "It is not the initiative or desire of the defendant and overall all requirements for the procurement or construction of 4G BTS have been fulfilled and have been listed in the RKAKL of the Ministry of Communication and Information and has been reviewed by the Director General of Budget of the Ministry of Finance of the Republic of Indonesia," said Dion. In this case, former Minister of Communication and Information (Menkominfo) Johnny G. Plate was charged with alleged corruption in providing BTS infrastructure and supporting Kominfo for the 2020 period — 2022 which cost the state finances Rp8,032,084,133,795.51. The indictment also states that a number of parties who benefited from the development project, namely Johnny G. Plate received money amounting to Rp17,848,308,000.00, Anang Achmad Latif as the President Director of the Telecommunication and Information Accessibility Agency (BAKTI) and the power of budget user (KPA) received Rp5 billion; Yohan Suryanto as the Ministry of Indonesia's Human Development (HUDEV UI) expert received Rp453,608,400.00. Furthermore, Irwan Hermawan as Commissioner of PT Solitech Media Sinergy received Rp119 billion, Windi Purnama as Director of PT Multimedia Berdikari Sejahtera received Rp500 million Muhammad Yusrizki as Director of PT Basar Utama Prima received Rp50 billion and 2.5 million US dollars, The FiberHome Consortium PT Telkominfra PT Multi Trans Data (PT MTD) for Package 1 and 2 received Rp2,940,870,480,090.00 The Huawei SEI Linta Consortium for package 3 received Rp1,584,914,955.00 and the IBS Consortium and ZTE Package 4 and 5 received Rp3,504,518,715,600,00.