HMS Center Chairman: Rafael And Eko Case Reveals Pandora's Box Of DJP And DJBC Officials' Hedonic Style In Minister Of Finance Sri Mulyani Era

Rafael Alun Trisambodo at KPK building. (Wardhany Tsa Tsia/VOI)

JAKARTA - Chairperson of the Turn for a Prosperous Society (HMS) Center Hardjuno Wiwoho admits that he is very concerned about the emergence of cases of unfair wealth and the hedonistic lifestyle of employees of the Directorate General of Taxes (DJP) and Directorate General of Customs and Excise (DJBC) of the Ministry of Finance (Kemenkeu) in the era of the Minister of Finance Sri Mulyani.

Sadly, this case was uncovered when the Indonesian economy was just starting to recover after being hit by the Covid-19 pandemic for the last 3 years.

This opened the 'Pandora' box for the irregularity in the number of personal assets and hedonic behavior among the Ministry of Finance's DGT officials. Moreover, it is common knowledge that since the New Order era, officials within the DJP and DJBC of the Ministry of Finance have quite fantastic assets.

"And it is not in accordance with the normal 'Take Home Pay' or official salary received every month as per the regulations for the Salary of Civil Servants of the Republic of Indonesia (PGPS) which if traced 'including Special Allowances' are also received formally," said Hardjuno in Jakarta, Tuesday, March.

As is well known, at the end of President Jokowi's second term in power, 2019-2024 was tarnished by the actions of two officials at the Ministry of Finance, namely an Echelon III official alias Head of the General Section of the South Jakarta Regional Tax Office, Rafael Alun Trisambodo and the viral assets show off by the Head of Yogya Customs and Excise who is also a new Echelon II, Eko Darmanto.

Therefore Hardjuno emphasized, a thorough investigation of the improper assets of these two Ministry of Finance officials must be an entry point for tracing and examining the assets of other officials at the Ministry of Finance. This is because it is reasonable to suspect that there are still many officials at the Ministry of Finance who have enormous assets but have not yet disclosed them.

"This is the will of God Almighty," he said.

According to Hardjuno, the cases of Rafael Alun and Eko Darmanto are "only the tip of the iceberg" - from the hedonic lifestyle of officials within the Ministry of Finance, especially at DGT and DGCE.

"The point is the behavior of officials from the Ministry of Finance who are 'overconfident', using their power for personal pleasure. This is terrible and becomes the seed for the birth of social jealousy. Moreover, this is happening when the poverty rate in Indonesia is increasing," he explained.

This social jealousy can trigger political instability ahead of the 2023-2024 political year. For this reason, Hardjuno urged Sri Mulyani to carry out a thorough evaluation of all of her employees so that this hedonism incident would not happen again.

"I think this is homework for the Minister of Finance Sri Mulyani, to thoroughly evaluate her employees so that incidents like this don't happen again," he said.

In Hardjuno's opinion, the disclosure of the cases of Rafael Alun Trisambodo and Eko Darmanto has brought the credibility of the Minister of Finance Sri Mulyani to its lowest point.

These two cases confirm that Minister of Finance Sri Mulyani has not made any performance improvements at the Ministry of Finance except for accumulating state debt which reached IDR 7,000 trillion during the Jokowi-Ma'ruf Amin Regime. This debt pile, Hardjuno said, was very burdensome for future generations.

"So far, Minister of Finance Sri Mulyani has indeed succeeded in making people believe. But cases of showing off wealth, unnatural possessions, and even figures on the number of tax officials who do not report taxes, prove otherwise. Namely, it turns out that the Ministry of Finance cannot be trusted,” he said.

In fact, so far, the Minister of Finance Sri Mulyani has portrayed herself as a figure who has made many changes in her ministries, especially in the DJP and DJBC environments.

Meanwhile, Chairman of the State Financial and Economic Research Institute (LPEKN), Sasmito Hadinegoro, proposed the importance of the State Financial Revolution. This is important so that sources of state revenue are managed on target and provide benefits to the people. Moreover, DJP and DJBC contribute more than 70 percent of the total APBN revenues.

"To save the image of the Ministry of Finance, I think a total revolution is needed at the Ministry of Finance. Because it has been proven that there are many naughty officials at the Ministry of Finance who have not reported their taxes," he said.

As the hedonic case of Ministry of Finance officials emerged, the title of queen of 'debt' was again pinned on Sri Mulyani.

“Imagine the debt continues to increase. This is terrible because Sri Mulyani has proven incapable of managing her staff, but we already have debts of up to IDR 7400 trillion," said Hardjuno.

So according to Hardjuno, it is very understandable that Sri Mulyani has received many international awards, even as the World's Best Finance Minister, simply because all of her policies have indeed benefited international creditors.

Meanwhile, domestically, Sri Mulyani has proven successful in portraying herself as a trusted figure. Massive remuneration for staff is also accepted by society as a fair thing because it aims to prevent officials from being tempted to engage in corruption, collusion, and nepotism in tax reporting.

“But today God took it all apart. The Directorate of Taxes and Customs is filled with people who are crazy about wealth. And how can we entrust our money, our future budget to Sri Mulyani and her men?" said Hardjuno Wiwoho.