THE VVIP room at Cipto Mangunkusumo General Hospital in Central Jakarta suddenly became busy. Since morning, hospital administrators had been neatly putting things in order. On Friday two weeks ago, in the hospital room of Syaukani Hassan Rais, former Regent of Kutai Kartanegara, they waited for the arrival of presidential staff member Denny Indrayana and Justice & Human Rights Minister, Patrialis Akbar.

Denny arrived earlier, going directly to Syaukani’s room. Patrialis arrived half an hour later. Doctor Yusuf Misbach and some of Syaukani’s family members met with them. “The President dispatched Denny to directly observe Syaukani’s condition,” Patrialis told Tempo, on Friday last week.

After undergoing treatment on May 8 at this hospital, Syaukani stayed in Room 105, which costs Rp1.4 million a night. When the two officials came to visit him, Syaukani gazed vacantly. Once in a while he closed his eyes, mouth agape. Television cameramen and photographers were allowed to capture this “drama.”

On Indonesia’s 65th Independence Day, Syaukani received a special gift: clemency from President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono. Syaukani had been found guilty of corruption and in 2008 was duly sentenced to six years in prison. However, with early parole from the Head of State, he was immediately released.

This motion was protested by anticorruption activists. The Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) also questioned it. “What are we working so hard for if they just get pardoned later on?” asked M. Jasin, a KPK Deputy Chairman. Obviously, the visit of Patrialis and Denny to the hospital was an attempt to reduce the controversy that had erupted over the matter. Unlike Patrialis, Denny said that he had come to visit Syaukani on his own initiative. “The President welcomed it and asked me to coordinate my visit with the Justice Minister,” he said.

Following his indictment on four counts of corruption, Syaukani was detained in March 2007. During the trial, this Golkar Party politician was charged with abuse power in the utilization of stimulus funds derived from natural resource taxes, social assistance funds, airport construction feasibility study funds and advance funds to clear land for an airport.

His decision to use 1.5 percent of oil and gas balancing funds as stimulus funds was judged to have been illegal. This was because the funds collected were then distributed to a number of local government officials. From 2001-2005, Syaukani took in Rp27.83 billion and other officials received Rp65.36 billion.

Syaukani was also found guilty of disbursing Rp7.18 billion of funds allocated for an airport construction feasibility study done by PT Mahakam Diastar International. With regards to social assistance funds, the judge concluded that Syaukani failed to properly account for the Rp6.27 billion funds. In December 2007, he was sentenced to two and a half years in prison. The sentence was extended by the Supreme Court, which handed down a six-year imprisonment plus a fine of Rp49.36 billion in September last year.

The 62-year-old Syaukani, also known as Pak Kaning, was supposed to be sent to the Cipinang Prison in East Jakarta. In fact, he has not spent much time in a cell, but in a hospital room. During the trial, he had to be repeatedly hospitalized at Pertamina Hospital in South Jakarta. His lawyer cited health reasons when he filed for a pardon with the President on November 23 last year.

According to some officials at the Palace, this request was initially rejected by the President. Patrialis attempted to convince the President in one meeting. In the end, a remission was issued by the President on August 15. When he was asked to confirm this, Patrialis claimed that the President never formally rejected Syaukani’s request.

According to Syaukani’s wife, Dayang Kartini, he plans to return to Tenggarong, East Kalimantan, to celebrate the end of Ramadan and the Lebaran holidays. He plans to stay at the guesthouse of the official residence of the Kutai Kartanegara Regent, where he used to stay when he was in office. Today, his daughter, Rita Widyasari, who was elected Regent in April, resides there.

Despite his serious physical condition, on April 22, Syaukani flew to Tenggarong on a chartered plane. There he attended Rita’s election campaign. According to someone who was present, Syaukani even got on stage and gave a speech, even though he was short of breath.

Rudy Alfonso, Syaukani’s lawyer, verified his client’s trip to Tenggarong, adding, however that this trip was done at the doctor’s instruction as a form of therapy for Syaukani to improve his memory. “It just wasn’t to campaign,” he said.

Minister Patrialis said that the permission given to Syaukani at that time was for the purpose of medical treatment. “Only later did I find out that he attended his daughter’s election campaign.”

A LOVELY Ramadan gift was also presented to former Bank Indonesia Deputy Governor Aulia Pohan. He was given a sentence reduction of six months and put on conditional parole. On Saturday two weeks ago, he was even able to attend a birthday party for his first grandchild, which was also attended by First Lady Ani Yudhoyono.

Three other former Bank Indonesia deputy governors, namely Maman Soemantri, Bun Bunan Hutapea and Aslim Tadjudin, were also granted clemency. The four of them were charged for the same corruption case, namely misusing Rp100 billion of the Indonesian Banking Development Foundation (YPPI).

Aulia was first questioned by the KPK in February 2008. At that time he was a witness in the bribery case of Bank Indonesia to the House of Representatives (DPR) members in 2003. These bribes were intended to smooth the way for legislation connected with Bank Indonesia.

It was revealed during questioning that the decision to use Indonesian Banking Development Foundation funds to bribe members of parliament was a collective decision of the BI board of governors. For this reason, in November 2008, the KPK detained Aulia, Aslim Tadjudin, Bun Bunan Hutapea, and Maman Soemantri. During the first trial, Aulia and Maman were each sentenced to four and a half years in prison. Bun Bunan and Aslim each received four-year prison terms. The panel of judges at the Jakarta High Court, reduced Aulia’s sentence to four years, following his appeal. In the Supreme Court, the sentence was reduced another year. Twice on Independence Day, he received an additional three-month sentence reduction.

A month before being eligible for conditional release, Aulia was allowed to leave his cell during the day. He would often travel back and forth to his regular dentist in Pondok Indah, South Jakarta, then return home for a nap. “He would sleep first at his home,” said a close relative.

Patrialis denied that Aulia Pohan received special treatment. He said, the remissions given to Aulia were in accordance with current regulations. “He received the same time off as the other prisoners,” he said.

He also emphasized that the clemency for Syaukani and the parole for Aulia and other inmates followed procedures. According to Patrialis, on July 2 this year, a hearing was held by the Rehabilitation Monitoring Team, comprising representatives of a number government agencies, such as the Correctional Facilities Directorate, the Attorney General’s Office and the National Police Force. “KPK leaders were represented by prosecutor Muhibuddin,” said Patrialis.

This meeting between the KPK and the Justice & Human Rights Minister later became a source of dispute. In a number of interviews, Patrialis said that he had spoken about Syaukani’s pardon with the KPK. The anticorruption commission denied it, saying they were never consulted about Syaukani’s early release.

According to a Tempo source, the KPK felt it was being taken for granted. That is why on the night of Sunday, August 22, KPK Deputy Chairman Chandra M. Hamzah called Patrialis on the telephone. In a 15-minute conversation, Patrialis denied making up the story. According to Chandra, he told Patrialis the Rehabilitation Monitoring Team had no right to discuss clemencies, remissions or pardons. The phone call did not go well.

When asked to confirm this telephone conversation, Chandra refused to comment. Further information was given by KPK Deputy Chairman Haryono Umar. He denied that the KPK was involved in deliberations on Syaukani’s pardon. He confirmed there was a KPK representative during the hearing of the Rehabilitation Monitoring Team. “However, at that time, there was no mention of a pardon for Syaukani,” he said. “It only focused on reducing sentences and early parole.”

Zainal Arifin Muchtar, Director of the Center for Anti-Corruption Studies at Gadjah Mada University, feels that there is a connection between Syaukani’s clemency and Aulia Pohan’s conditional release. Zainal said that the reason for granting the clemency was very weak. Besides, there is some evidence that the President had twice turned down his request.

Zainal surmises that when the clemency was finally approved and the timing being in such close proximity to Aulia’s parole, it was difficult not to conclude that these two decisions were related. “Hence the charges that Syaukani’s clemency was a means of diverting public attention from that of Aulia Pohan, were reinforced.”