Prove the corruption charges regarding Perpu 1/2004: Herman

The head of a special committee assigned to deliberate the regulation in lieu of law (Perpu) No. 1/2004 regarding mining activities in protected forests, Herman Widyananda, has asked a group of his fellow lawmakers to prove their allegations of bribery during the passage of the Perpu by the House of Representatives, the Bisnis Indonesia newspaper reported in its Monday edition.

Earlier, a group of legislators said they suspect that some of their colleagues have been bribed into approving the governmental regulation in lieu of law, which allows open pit mining in protected forest areas.

Bambang Setyo, a member of the Anticorruption Caucus, said the indication of bribery was the fact that major parties had voted to pass regulation in lieu of law No. 1/2004 into law during the House of Representatives' plenary session on July 15.

“It is better to reveal the identity of the two members of the special committee who were offered bribe and the persons who offered the money to them. Don’t make allegations without any proof,” Herman told the Bisnis on Sunday in Jakarta.

Herman, a Golkar Party member, said he did not know anything about the bribery case. Moreover, being a head of the committee, he should remain neutral

The caucus was set up in April 2004 as a voluntary drive by lawmakers to fight corruption and collusion in the legislature. Bambang claimed the caucus has 30 members of various factions in the House, whom he refused to identify.

A few days before the plenary session, lawmakers had talked about "money being offered" for those who agreed to the bill, Bambang said.

"My colleagues said they were offered between Rp 50 million to Rp 150 million (US$=Rp9,100)," Bambang, who is from Crescent Star faction, said, adding that he got a similar offer from a fellow lawmaker.

Last week, the House passed regulation in lieu of law No. 1/2004 into law after 131 lawmakers out of 232 in the plenary session voted for the controversial bill.

The bill is the same in principle as Forestry Law No. 41/1999 except for an additional clause stipulating that mining companies who have signed contracts prior to the enactment of the Forestry Law may resume their open-pit mining activities. The 1999 Forestry Law bans open-pit mining operations in protected forests.

The government issued Presidential Decree No. 41/2004 to allow 13 mining companies resume their operations as an implementation of the law. (*)