Mahfud's 'Mafia' Remarks Get Angry Response From Palace
Chairman of the Constitutional Court Mahfud
M.D., left, alleges a mafia influence on the president, right, regarding
drug traffickers.
After alleging that “Mafia” in the State Palace had influenced the
president to commute a drug trafficker’s death sentence to life in
prison, Constitutional Court chairman Mahfud M.D. is now coming under
fire for his statement.
President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono on Sept. 26 granted clemency to Meirika Franola, known as Ola, who had been sentenced to death after attempting to smuggle cocaine and heroin through Soekarno-Hatta International Airport in 2000.
After receiving clemency, Ola was discovered running a drug trafficking ring from her prison cell, prompting a wave of criticism directed at the president. One Golkar politician said the clemency was evidence that a drug trafficking ring had infiltarted the State Palace.
Mahfud himself entertained the idea, saying that he was “very surprised” because he had for years known Yudhoyono as “a very careful and cautious person in making decisions” so it was highly unlikely the president would have come to such a decision independently.
“This is what really surprised me. Therefore, I guess some mafia have penetrated the palace,” Mahfud said as quoted by the local media.
“I am not saying that people in the palace have done this, but I strongly suspect people from outside the palace who are so sophisticated that they can convince the palace that pardoning [a drug trafficker] is the right thing to do.
“I strongly believe that some kind of mafia game is taking place in the crime of narcotics trafficking in this country because there is so much evidence [pointing to it].”
His statements have drawn a vitriolic response from the Yudhoyono’s administration. On Saturday, Coordinating Minister for Social Welfare Agung Laksono said that Mahud’s statements were an overreaction.
“I think Mahfud’s allegations are aimless, baseless and tendencious,” Agung told reporters.
Agung argued that as the chairman of the Constitutional Court, a high-ranking state institution, Mahfud knew better than to launch potentially defamatory statements against other government institutions.
In one emotional address to reporters, State Secretary Sudi Silalahi said that Mahfud had no business speaking on the matter unless he had evidence to back up the claim.
Sudi said Mahfud’s accusation about a drug mafia operating behind the scenes at the palace was blatantly denigrating toward the institution.
Cabinet Speaker Dipo Alam also sounded off on the Constituional Court chairman, saying that Mahfud was attracting the wrong kind of attention for himself and the president.
Responding to the statements, Mahfud said that he was only offering an analysis that carried no burden of proof.
He added that he was surprised by the angry reaction to what he said were well-intended remarks, and that his statements should have been met with an open mind rather than knee-jerk condemnation.
He said his remarks were “similar to the ones made by [Deputy Minister for Law and Human Rights] Denny Indrayana who alleged that the palace was one of the nation’s epicenters of corruption, alongside Cendana [residence of former president Suharto], Senayan [House of Representatives), and [police and military] headquarters.”
Mahfud said prison wardens in penitentiaries and jails inspected by Denny were known to have been involved in drug trafficking, and some had been caught red-handed.
“Why is it that when Denny made such remarks nobody felt offended but when I did it, people felt offended?” Mahfud said, as quoted by Detik.com news portal.
He also recalled a recent statement by Henry Yosodiningrat, the chairman of Granat, the National Anti-Drug Movement, that some mafia were specializing in negotiating the release of drug convicts through “very big compensation.”
Mahfud said that the allegations of mafia influence in the State Palace were Yudhoyono’s responsibility, and that the president should not have revoked Ola’s death sentence because it would set a bad precedent.
“A presidential pardon is a legal product. It is not good to revoke it after imposing it, because that would leave a bad precedence for the future and it won’t be good for the president himself,” Mahfud said.
The case kicked off when the National Narcotics Agency arrested a drug trafficker identified as Nur Aisyah entering Indonesia with 775 grams of crystal methamphetamine. The trafficker confessed that she had been asked to carry the drugs to Ola, who planned to smuggle three kilograms of cocaine and 3.5 kilograms of heroin out of Indonesia.
Ola was later sentenced to death, but she applied for clemency to Yudhoyono, who eventually granted it in September.
The president was also criticized last month for commuting the sentence of Deni Setia Maharwa from the death penalty to life in prison.
People’s Consultative Assembly Deputy Chairman Hajriyanto Y. Thohari said the clemency move was “diametrically opposed to the spirit of eradicating drugs.”
President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono on Sept. 26 granted clemency to Meirika Franola, known as Ola, who had been sentenced to death after attempting to smuggle cocaine and heroin through Soekarno-Hatta International Airport in 2000.
After receiving clemency, Ola was discovered running a drug trafficking ring from her prison cell, prompting a wave of criticism directed at the president. One Golkar politician said the clemency was evidence that a drug trafficking ring had infiltarted the State Palace.
Mahfud himself entertained the idea, saying that he was “very surprised” because he had for years known Yudhoyono as “a very careful and cautious person in making decisions” so it was highly unlikely the president would have come to such a decision independently.
“This is what really surprised me. Therefore, I guess some mafia have penetrated the palace,” Mahfud said as quoted by the local media.
“I am not saying that people in the palace have done this, but I strongly suspect people from outside the palace who are so sophisticated that they can convince the palace that pardoning [a drug trafficker] is the right thing to do.
“I strongly believe that some kind of mafia game is taking place in the crime of narcotics trafficking in this country because there is so much evidence [pointing to it].”
His statements have drawn a vitriolic response from the Yudhoyono’s administration. On Saturday, Coordinating Minister for Social Welfare Agung Laksono said that Mahud’s statements were an overreaction.
“I think Mahfud’s allegations are aimless, baseless and tendencious,” Agung told reporters.
Agung argued that as the chairman of the Constitutional Court, a high-ranking state institution, Mahfud knew better than to launch potentially defamatory statements against other government institutions.
In one emotional address to reporters, State Secretary Sudi Silalahi said that Mahfud had no business speaking on the matter unless he had evidence to back up the claim.
Sudi said Mahfud’s accusation about a drug mafia operating behind the scenes at the palace was blatantly denigrating toward the institution.
Cabinet Speaker Dipo Alam also sounded off on the Constituional Court chairman, saying that Mahfud was attracting the wrong kind of attention for himself and the president.
Responding to the statements, Mahfud said that he was only offering an analysis that carried no burden of proof.
He added that he was surprised by the angry reaction to what he said were well-intended remarks, and that his statements should have been met with an open mind rather than knee-jerk condemnation.
He said his remarks were “similar to the ones made by [Deputy Minister for Law and Human Rights] Denny Indrayana who alleged that the palace was one of the nation’s epicenters of corruption, alongside Cendana [residence of former president Suharto], Senayan [House of Representatives), and [police and military] headquarters.”
Mahfud said prison wardens in penitentiaries and jails inspected by Denny were known to have been involved in drug trafficking, and some had been caught red-handed.
“Why is it that when Denny made such remarks nobody felt offended but when I did it, people felt offended?” Mahfud said, as quoted by Detik.com news portal.
He also recalled a recent statement by Henry Yosodiningrat, the chairman of Granat, the National Anti-Drug Movement, that some mafia were specializing in negotiating the release of drug convicts through “very big compensation.”
Mahfud said that the allegations of mafia influence in the State Palace were Yudhoyono’s responsibility, and that the president should not have revoked Ola’s death sentence because it would set a bad precedent.
“A presidential pardon is a legal product. It is not good to revoke it after imposing it, because that would leave a bad precedence for the future and it won’t be good for the president himself,” Mahfud said.
The case kicked off when the National Narcotics Agency arrested a drug trafficker identified as Nur Aisyah entering Indonesia with 775 grams of crystal methamphetamine. The trafficker confessed that she had been asked to carry the drugs to Ola, who planned to smuggle three kilograms of cocaine and 3.5 kilograms of heroin out of Indonesia.
Ola was later sentenced to death, but she applied for clemency to Yudhoyono, who eventually granted it in September.
The president was also criticized last month for commuting the sentence of Deni Setia Maharwa from the death penalty to life in prison.
People’s Consultative Assembly Deputy Chairman Hajriyanto Y. Thohari said the clemency move was “diametrically opposed to the spirit of eradicating drugs.”
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