Disbelief as ‘wanted’ politician hospitalised

JaKarTa: A top Indonesian politician embroiled in a scandal involving an epic theft of public money has been hospitalised after a car crash that is being widely mocked online as another tactic to avoid arrest.

Indonesians were hardly surprised that their Donald Trumpadmiring speaker of parliament Setya Novanto was nowhere to be found this week when police went to arrest him. But the car crash has unleashed a wave of incredulity among a public often indifferent to the slippery moves of Indonesian politicians.

Images swept across social media on Thursday night showing a black SUV with a dented grill resting against a power pole, and Novanto apparently unconscious in a hospital bed with a bandage on his head.

Jakarta police have yet to reach a conclusion in their accident investigation, but Novanto’s lawyer said the politician was injured and anyone who calls the incident fake should be reported to police.

However, some aren’t buying it, calling the crash Novanto’s most outrageous move yet to stymie the investigation and comparing it to a plot twist in one of the homegrown TV melodramas that regularly captivate millions.

Novanto, once hailed by Trump as one of Indonesia’s most powerful men, has for months been using every political, medical and legal maneuver available to avoid questioning after being named a suspect in the US$170mil (RM709mil) corruption scandal.

In recent weeks he’d been unable to respond to summons for ques- tioning, citing a variety of health problems that required hospital treatment, though earlier this month had apparently gathered enough strength to be a guest at the wedding of the daughter of Indonesia’s president.

“Setya Novanto and his team of lawyers must think we Indonesians are all fools,” said Rina Amelia, a 29-year-old barista at a Jakarta cafe. “This accident? Seriously?” The Corruption Eradication Commission had said it would declare Novanto a most-wanted fugitive within 24 hours after he avoided arrest during a Wednesday night raid by commission officials and paramilitary police on his Jakarta home.

A day later Novanto was being driven to an appointment in Jakarta when the accident happened. — AP