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New Anti Corruption Chief Abraham Samad Had Ties To Al-Qaeda
The Jakarta Post
JAKARTA - Anticorruption activists have welcomed the appointment of lawyer and Makassar-based activist Abraham Samad as the new leader of the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) despite his previous associations with an Islamic hardliner group.
The House of Representatives' Commission III on legal affairs and law, human rights and security, declared Abraham the winner of the KPK leader election after the vote count showed he had received the most support on Friday.
Earning solid support from the Golkar Party, Abraham finished ahead of rival candidates Bambang Widjojanto, Adnan Pandu Praja and Zulkarnaen, by securing 43 of the total of 56 votes. Abraham will lead the commission until 2015.
Although he was praised for being a clean candidate with no links to corruption, his record is hardly flawless.
In 2002, Abraham represented suspects in the bombing of a McDonald's restaurant and a Toyota dealer showroom owned by then businessman Jusuf Kalla, former vice president, in Makassar, South Sulawesi, that claimed three lives and injured 11.
The suspects were members of the Preparatory Committee for Islamic Sharia Enforcement (KPPSI), an organization for which Abraham offered legal support in his capacity as investigation team head. The organization had links to Laskar Jundullah, a paramilitary organization linked to al-Qaeda.
Agus Dwikarna, a KPPSI front man, was arrested at Ninoy Aquino Airport in Manila for possessing explosives. He was arrested along with two other Indonesians: Tamsil Linrung, now a lawmaker with the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS), and Abdul Jamal Balfas, a businessman from Samarinda, East Kalimantan.
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