Vice President (Vice President) Ma'ruf Amin said the sky toll road program would continue despite the investigation into the alleged corruption case of the Base Transceiver Station (BTS) construction project that dragged the former Minister of Communication and Information (Menkominfo) Johnny G Plate.
"Regarding the sky toll road, it has become a national program and a national strategic program because of that, whatever happens as a result, for example, there is a possibility of corruption, the sky toll road will continue," said Vice President Ma'ruf Amin in Nusa Dua, Bali on Tuesday.
The sky toll road is a term from the Palapa Ring project in which there is the use of satellites for the purpose of equitable internet quality throughout Indonesia which was inaugurated by President Joko Widodo on October 14, 2019 at the State Palace.
However, on May 17, 2023, investigators from the Attorney General's Office detained Johnny G. Plate as a suspect in the alleged corruption case in the BTS BAKTI procurement project of the Ministry of Communication and Information for the period 2020-2022.
"And now there are also temporary officials and maybe later there will be officials who will continue to complete the program," added the Vice President.
President Jokowi since May 19, 2023 has indeed issued Presidential Decree Number 41/P of 2023 concerning the Dismissal and Appointment of Acting Tasks, Authority, and Responsibility of the Minister of Communication and Information of the Advanced Indonesia Cabinet for the 2019-2024 Period to dismiss Johnny G Plate as Minister of Communication and Information and appoint the Coordinating Minister for Political, Legal and Security Affairs (Menkopolhukam) Mahfud MD as Acting Minister of Communication and Information.
"Because this celestial toll road problem can also be used as a medium to convey the development of national conditions, the success of economic success, is also used to learn distance through the internet. So it is very important that the role of the sky toll road is also an effort to unite the Unitary State of the Republic of Indonesia," said the Vice President.
Indonesian unity, according to the Vice President, is not only in the form of politics but also public services, including the construction of basic facilities, namely the internet and communication.
"Then what should be addressed? Everything. So first, for example, regarding planning and supervision, it must have started from planning so that not only supervision is carried out after a new event we carry out surveillance. The audit has started since the planning, then also at the implementation stage so that (supervised) so that it is not too far away if there are irregularities," explained the Vice President.
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In addition, there needs to be improved systems, regulations and the most important thing is the quality of human resources.
"So we have to clean up all the aspects that cause (corruption)," said the Vice President.
It is known that there are three Palapa Ring packages, namely the West, Central, and East which have been completed. From west to east, a total of 36,000 kilometers of fiber optics were built (consisting of land cables and sea cables) so that it is hoped that it can connect 514 regencies/cities in Indonesia.
It is called the "sky toll" because the satellite is in outer space (sky) which all connects broadband. After the Palapa Ring is completed, it is necessary to build an internet signal recipient, namely BTS.
Meanwhile, the Head of the Legal Information Center (Kapuspenkum) at the Attorney General's Office, Ketut Sumedan, said that state losses due to BTS corruption reached Rp8.32 trillion.
Apart from Johnny Plate, the AGO has named five other suspects in the case, namely the President Director of BAKTI Kemenkominfo Anang Achmas Latif (AAL), President Director of PT Mora Telematics Indonesia Gapok Menak (GMS), experts on Human Development at the University of Indonesia in 2020 Yohan Suryanto (YS), Mukti Ali (MA) from PT Huawei Technology Investment, and Commissioner of PT Solitchmedia Synergy Irwan Hermawan (IH).
The files of three suspects, namely AAL, GMS, and YS, have been transferred to phase II by investigators from the Junior Attorney General for Special Crimes (Jampidsus) at the Indonesian Attorney General's Office to the South Jakarta District Attorney's (JPU) on May 2, 2023, for immediate trial at the Corruption Court, Central Jakarta.
Meanwhile, the other two suspects are still in the filing process.
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