SERANG, Indonesia, (Reuters) – Indonesia’s first female governor, smiling broadly, looks down from billboards that line the pot-holed roads of Banten, the country’s fifth-most populous province that she has ruled for almost a decade.
Except she’s not actually there. Ratu Atut Chosiyah, 51, is in jail in the capital Jakarta, 90 km (55 miles) away, facing charges of bribery and extortion.
After years of support from national politicians, Islamic clerics and jawara – street gangsters reputed to have magical powers – Chosiyah’s empire is crumbling, the latest in a series of scandals weighing on Indonesia’s ruling coalition ahead of parliamentary and presidential elections.
Graft scandals have dramatically eroded for President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and his Democratic Party-led alliance in the country that has the world’s biggest population of Muslims and is Southeast Asia’s largest economy.
The scandals, accompanied by rising prices and a slowdown in growth, have opened up support for the main opposition PDI-P party of former president Megawati Sukarnoputri, who lost Indonesia’s first direct presidential poll to Yudhoyono in 2004.
“For us, Banten is one of the most important provinces because it’s one of the biggest provinces in Indonesia,” said Hasto Kristianto, vice secretary-general of PDI-P, which several polls predict will come out on top in April’s general election. They also show it is now the front runner in Banten.
“So we are focused on consolidating that support and building it up, because the public is very disappointed with Ratu Atut.”
The national anti-graft agency, known by its Indonesian initials KPK, accuses Chosiyah of bribing a judge, who is also in jail, to favour her candidate in an election dispute. It has seized her family’s fleet of luxury cars, including a Lamborghini and a Rolls Royce, while local media has published details of a $500,000 renovation of the governor’s private residence and overseas shopping sprees.
Chosiyah, also known as Ibu Atut, has not commented on the case against her but her lawyer maintained she was innocent.
“In the context of the bribery case, Ibu Atut is absolutely not involved and does not know about the money transfer that was carried out,” said her attorney Tubagus Sukatma, referring to the money reportedly paid to the judge.
Always dressed in the headscarf and neck-to-toe gown of an orthodox Indonesian Muslim woman, Chosiyah heads a political dynasty that for years has dominated Banten, a hardscrabble province two hours drive from the gleaming skyscrapers of Jakarta.
Her father won a series of construction contracts from former autocrat Suharto and then became a regional political chieftain. Chosiyah has built on the relationship, forging links with Golkar, a political party promoted by Suharto that is part of the ruling coalition.
In 2002, Chosiyah eased into the vice governor’s chair when Banten was carved out of West Java province. She became governor in 2005.
