I would like to remind the ministers and all public officials to recheck their statement before it is delivered to the public, mainly on numbers, figures, data, and information. Please be more carefulJakarta (ANTARA) - President Joko Widodo here Friday warned his ministers to be more careful while delivering statements to the public following an alleged incorrect statement issued by Law and Human Rights Minister Yasonna Laoly. "I would like to remind the ministers and all public officials to recheck their statement before it is delivered to the public, mainly on numbers, figures, data, and information. Please be more careful," President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) remarked at the Merdeka Palace, Jakarta.
The President further prompted his ministers to double check their statements that involve legal consequences. "Please don't just receive information from our staff without cross-checking it with the fact," Jokowi added.
Although Jokowi never mentioned Laoly, the President's statement may have been referring to the latest incident involving the Law and Human Minister who had allegedly covered up the whereabouts of Harun Masiku, a member of the ruling party PDI-P, but also a fugitive in a high-profile corruption case.
On January 16 at the Cipinang Penitentiary Institution, Jakarta, Laoly, a PDI-P senior politician, informed the press that Masiku, his fellow party member, had traveled overseas on January 6 and his whereabouts were unknown since then.
However, on January 21, Masiku's wife, Hildawati Jamrin and CCTV records at the Soekarno Hata International Airport revealed that he had returned to Jakarta on January 7. Two days ago, the Immigration Office Director, Ronny F Sompie, reaffirmed that Masiku had arrived in Jakarta and clarified that there had been a technical error in disclosing the information about Masiku.
"Following our probe, we discovered that the system had recorded Masiku's arrival, but there was a delay in the time as we recently just installed our IT devices at the Terminal 2F, (Soekarno Hatta International Airport)," Sompie explained.
Acting on Laoly's statement, a non-profit International Corruption Watch and the coalition of NGOs reported the law minister to the Anti-Corruption Commission (KPK) for allegedly obstructing an investigation into a bribery case involving the party member and the election body (KPU) commissioner, Wahyu Setiawan.
On January 8, the anti-graft body arrested Setiawan and other PDI-P members in the case as the KPU commissioner allegedly had asked for Rp900 million as an operational fee to help Masiku become a member of the House of Representatives. After Setiawan's arrest, KPK on January 13, requested the immigration office to block Masiku from traveling abroad and called on the police to put him on its most-wanted list. (INE)
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Reporter: Desca L Natalia/Genta Tenri Ma
Editor: Azis Kurmala
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