The speaker of Indonesia’s parliament, implicated in a $170 million corruption case, was hospitalized on Friday after a bizarre drama wherein he claimed to have been injured in a automobile crash shortly after a botched raid on his palatial estate.
The story dominated headlines and newscasts within the Southeast Asian country this week, where photos showed a glum Setya Novanto lying in a hospital bed in Jakarta with medical tubes in her nose. Another allegedly showed his black automobile with a dented radiator grille leaning against a utility pole.
Critics have lashed out at Novanto, accusing him of attempting to evade anti-corruption officials who need to query him over certainly one of Indonesia’s worst bribery scandals.
“These kinds of actions will make people question everything – how can a leader have so little dignity?” said Jusuf Kalla, the country’s vice chairman and a member of Golkar, Indonesia’s second-largest political party, which is headed by Novanto. “Leaders must obey the law and have the trust of the people. If they run away like this, how can they be trusted?”
Some Indonesians are skeptical, calling the disaster Novanto’s most outrageous move yet to hamper the investigation and likening it to a plot twist in a soap opera aired on local television.
“Setya Novanto and his legal team must think that all Indonesians are stupid,” said Rina Amelia, a 29-year-old barista at a Jakarta cafe. “That accident? Seriously?”
Mocking memes on social media with a hashtag that translates to “Save the Power Pole” quickly went viral.
Some predicted that the next twist would be Novanto’s statement that he had lost his memory and was therefore unable to answer any questions about the corruption allegations.
“Sit back and grab some popcorn, it’s not over yet,” said Twitter user Veronica Koman.
On Wednesday evening, officials from the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) searched the multimillion-dollar Novanto estate in a posh part of the capital.
However, Novanto was nowhere to be found, sparking a frantic city-wide search for fear he had left the country.
The 62-year-old politician was placed on Indonesia’s most wanted list before he resurfaced in hospital on Thursday after what he claimed was a car accident, although he showed no signs of serious injuries.
Authorities want to question him over allegations that he and other politicians siphoned off millions of dollars in public funds in connection with a state project that issued new ID cards to Indonesia’s 255 million people.
The allegations that emerged earlier this year caused widespread shock.
Novanto’s lawyer insisted Friday that his client was not trying to dodge questions, saying he was “very, very weak” and feared he would be treated unfairly by the powerful anti-corruption body.
“I don’t want to be persecuted,” said Fredrich Yunadi. “He has the right to be treated according to the law.”
Novanto has previously faced corruption allegations, including a case wherein he tried to extort money from the local branch of Freeport-McMoRan in exchange for extending the American miner’s right to operate within the country. He was never prosecuted.
Two years ago, Novanto appeared at a press conference at Donald Trump’s eponymous skyscraper in Manhattan, where the present US president described him as an “incredible man” who will do “great things for the United States.”
Additional reporting by Associated Press, Reuters
This article appeared within the print edition of the South China Morning Post as: Lawmaker suspected of bribery ‘injured’
