APSN | Setya, Fadli walk away with slap on the wrist after 'Trump fiasco'

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Setya, Fadli walk away with slap on the wrist after 'Trump fiasco'

Jakarta Globe - October 20, 2015

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Jakarta – Despite repeatedly dodging questioning and having to explain the mountain of irregularities surrounding their trip to the United States, two House of Representatives leaders who appeared in a press conference organized by US presidential hopeful Donald Trump walked away from the debacle with only a reprimand.

Surahman Hidayat, chairman of the House Ethics Committee, said House speaker Setya Novanto and his deputy Fadli Zon did not violate any House regulations by attending the press conference at Trump Tower in New York on Sept. 3.

However, he added that they "had not been careful" in devising an answer when Trump asked Setya whether Indonesians liked the brash billionaire. Setya responded to the question with a "Yes, highly."

The ethical problem "lies in [Setya's] choice of words, which some say is less than appropriate. But some might argue that [Setya] was just being polite," Surahman said. "The ethics committee has decided to give them both a warning so they will be more careful next time."

Setya and Fadli were leading a group of legislators from Indonesia to attend the Fourth World Conference of Speakers of Parliament hosted by the International Parliamentary Union, a United Nations agency, in New York.

Surahman said both men had every right to meet Trump, although it was not in their official agenda. "They were exhausted [from the conference] so they decided to take a break and that's acceptable," the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) politician said. "Besides, [Trump] is not officially a [Republican] candidate yet."

Committee deputy Junimart Girsang, who has been calling for harsher punishments for Setya and Fadli, said he disagreed with the majority of ethics committee members.

Junimart said the pair should be given harsher sanctions, arguing that they had repeatedly dodged questionings.

Their attempts at dodging the ethics committee "is an ethical violation on its own," he said as quoted by Tempo.co news portal, arguing that the pair should be removed as House speakers.

Setya and Fadli were supposed to face questioning on Monday before the ruling was issued, but only Fadli responded to the summons with an excuse for his absence.

Fadli is currently in Switzerland attending the Global Conference of Parliamentarians Against Corruption, where he serves as president. Setya has yet to explain why he was unable to face the committee.

This is the third time both Setya and Fadli have ignored the MKD's orders for a meeting. The initial summons on Sept. 28 was ignored with the excuse that both were still in Saudi Arabia for hajj, reportedly invited by King Salman.

A summons for Oct. 12 was flouted by Setya, who claimed he had prior engagements, and Fadli, who demanded the MKD explain its accusations against him before attending.

Setya, a member of the Golkar Party, and Fadli, of the Great Indonesia Movement (Gerindra) Party, both previously said they would cooperate with MKD investigations.

Source: http://jakartaglobe.beritasatu.com/news/setya-fadli-walk-away-slap-wrist-trump-fiasco/.