PDI-P to Fire Tangerang Councilor After Drug Bust
Jakarta. The party behind Indonesia’s president has grudgingly said it will fire one of its members after he was charged by police with possession of narcotics.
Pabuadi, a Tangerang City Council member from the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), was arrested on Friday night while allegedly carrying out a drug transaction at a hotel in West Jakarta.
“We will hand down punishment, which is dismissal [from the party],” Hendri Zein, the chairman of the PDI-P caucus at the City Council, said on Monday as quoted by Kompas.
He added that Pabuadi was already “under sanction” for several undisclosed transgressions and had been barred from caucus meetings and other official functions.
“We gave him the chance to correct himself, but instead he got into more problems,” Hendri said. “We’re definitely going to fire him right away – if he’s convicted of taking drugs.”
Sr. Comr. Rudy Heriyanto, the chief of the West Jakarta Police, said on Monday that Pabuadi had confessed to having a methamphetamine habit. He said that Pabuadi and a woman he was with during the bust would be charged with possession under the 2009 Anti-Narcotics Law, for which they could face four to 20 years in prison if convicted. The alleged dealer, who was also arrested at the hotel, faces between five and 20 years for dealing.
The PDI-P, which backed Joko Widodo in last year’s election, touts itself as a “pro-people” party, but bears the dubious distinction of being the party with the most members arrested for and convicted of corruption.
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