Palace Now Hot on Trail of Bunda Putri's Identity
Luthfi Hasan Ishaaq, the former chairman of the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS), is one of the many high-profile leaders embroiled in corruption scandals. (JG Photo/Afriadi Hikmal)
Jakarta/Surabaya. The intrigue into the identity of a lobbyist reported to have the ear of the president on cabinet affairs continues to build up, with the State Palace saying on Tuesday that it would not make public the outcome of its own investigation into the shadowy woman known only as "Bunda Putri."
"We have absolutely no intention" of revealing her identity, Daniel Sparingga, an adviser to President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono on political matters, said in a statement on the Cabinet Secretariat website.
"That information is important for profiling [purposes], to address our own need to identify this Bunda Putri."
The mystery individual, also known as the "Queen Lobbyist," has been the subject of fevered speculation in recent weeks, following claims by senior officials from the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) that she was close to the first family and was even privy to the president's decisions on reshuffling the cabinet.
In his testimony at his corruption trial on Oct. 10, former PKS president Luthfi Hasan Ishaaq claimed that Bunda Putri was close to Yudhoyono and frequently provided accurate inside information about developments in the cabinet.
On Monday, Hilmi Aminuddin, the chief patron of the PKS, said at Luthfi's trial that Bunda Putri had also shared important information with him.
"Bunda Putri and I usually talk about the economy, politics, all sorts of topics — including about cabinet reshuffles," he told the Jakarta Anti-Corruption Court.
"I know her as a businesswoman from West Java and she's quite senior. I often bump into her at weddings and VIP rooms [at hotels and restaurants].
"I call her Non Saputri," he added.
Hilmi said that he was the one who had introduced her to Luthfi.
The allegations prompted an uncharacteristic outburst from Yudhoyono earlier this month, in which he categorically denied knowing any such Bunda Putri or that he let others in on his cabinet decisions.
"Nobody knows Bunda Putri," Yudhoyono told reporters at Halim Perdanakusuma airbase on Oct. 11, a day after Luthfi's statement. "One thousand percent, no one knows [her]."
The president said that although he rarely commented on ongoing corruption cases, he felt compelled to break his silence to clarify his alleged relationship with the mystery figure.
"I checked whether she ever called me, but there's no [proof of communication]… She also never met me," he said.
He said he had ordered State Secretary Sudi Silalahi to summon Agriculture Minister Suswono to explain Bunda Putri's identity. The minister, a PKS official, had reportedly told Sudi that Bunda Putri was a lobbyist with ties to the agriculture-related industries.
The Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) says it knows who Bunda Putri is, but that there is no urgency yet to bring her in for questioning.
"The KPK will question Bunda Putri as a witness if we need information from her," Busyro Muqoddas, a deputy chairman of the KPK, said in Surabaya on Tuesday.
"There's no obstacle for the KPK in questioning Bunda Putri."
The KPK, referencing wiretapped phone conversations between Bunda Putri and several PKS party members, described her role as an influential broker and said the lobbyist's involvement may lead investigators to name high-powered suspects.
Busyro refuted speculation that the lobbyist was the wife of the chief of staff of Yudhoyono's family enclave in Cikeas, Bogor, a woman known as Bu Pur.
"She's not Bu Pur. Bu Pur, is also a mother and a female and that's why many had mistaken her for Bunda Putri," he said.
"Based on media reports as well as my own observations, [Bunda Putri] is Non Saputri," Busyro added, but declined to elaborate further.
Meanwhile, economist Faisal Basri played down the president's protestations as disingenuous, saying he could not understand why Yudhoyono had labeled Bunda Putri as mysterious, arguing that she was an ordinary citizen with strong connections to many influential people.
"What makes her mysterious is the president's statement that he absolutely doesn't know her and how the PKS officials all fell blindly for what she told them," Faisal tweeted on Monday.
In a blog post, Faisal said he first met Bunda Putri in 2007 at a coffee shop at Le Meridien Hotel in Jakarta, having been introduced by a colleague.
"At that time, Bunda Putri had just met with a Somali minister who was on a visit to Jakarta. I don't know what her business was, because Bunda Putri didn't say anything," he wrote.
He said his colleague, Azwar Zulkarnaen, thought the meeting would give Faisal a helpful insight into the political map of Jakarta, given that Faisal planned to run for governor in the 2012 election.
Faisal said Azwar had told him Bunda Putri was the daughter of one of the Golkar Party's founders, Ahmadi.
"It was a brief meeting because it was getting late. We didn't talk much. There were nothing new in Bunda Putri's analysis about Jakarta's political map and our contact stopped," he said.
Faisal went on to explain that after some time he received an invitation from Bunda Putri to meet at a coffee shop at the Grand Hyatt Hotel and he was introduced to several people and some officials from Petronas, the Malaysian oil company, who were in town.
Faisal also bumped into former tourism minister Marzuki Usman at the hotel, but Marzuki did not sit in on the meeting. Nevertheless, Faisal said, he had the impression that the official was quite close to Bunda Putri.
"In the course of time, I saw how well-connected Bunda Putri was. At her birthday party I met Andi Mallarangeng [the former sports minister] and several government officials," he wrote.
"I was once brought along by her to meet with Purnomo Yusgiantoro [the defense minister] in a VIP room at Supadio Airport in Pontianak [in West Kalimantan]. I've met her several times, once at his house. At Bunda Putri's Pondok Indah house there were photos of her with high-ranking government officials. There's no doubt that Bunda Putri knows many influential people in this country."
Faisal said Bunda Putri was highly respected by Petronas officials because she was a lobbyist for Petronas not only in Indonesia but also in the Middle East and Africa, which explained how Bunda Putri knew a Somali minister.
None of Faisal's claims could be independently corroborated.
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