Indonesians query tax official’s wealth after viral assault video

Medan, Indonesia – Indonesians are questioning the source of a mid-tier tax officer’s wealth after a video appears to show his university student son beating up a teenager who is being led by internet sleuths to expose his family’s ostentatious lifestyle.

The finances of Rafael Alun Trisambodo, a tax official in Jakarta, came under scrutiny after a 57-second video of his son Mario Dandy Satriyo punching, kicking and stomping on the head of a 17-year-old teenager went viral last month.

The alleged victim, the ex-boyfriend of Satriyo’s current girlfriend, has been in a coma in hospital since the attack.

After the video spread online, Indonesian internet users tracked down social media posts by Satriyo showing the student riding an expensive motorcycle and SUV, raising questions about how his family could afford such luxury vehicles with the salary of a official.

On Friday, Indonesia’s Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati said in a statement that Trisambodo had been suspended while an investigation into his assets was conducted.

Indrawati also appealed to Indonesians not to let the controversy stop them from paying their taxes.

Trisambodo was questioned by Indonesia’s Corruption Eradication Commission on Wednesday about the source of his wealth, which is reported to be 56 billion Indonesian rupiah ($3.67 million).

The Treasury Department has refused to accept Trisambodo’s resignation, citing the need to determine whether he is guilty of misconduct and should be dishonorably discharged, which would strip him of his pension.

Alexander Arifianto, a research associate at S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS) in Singapore, said the case has caused a lot of stir due to the widespread perception that Indonesian officials are not held to the same standards as everyone else.

“People hear news about high ranking officials and their families riding around on Harleys, owning luxury cars and other luxury products, so they feel like there’s one rule that applies to officials and another that applies to the public,” Arifianto told Al Jazeera.

Arifianto added that the timing of the controversy was particularly fraught as Indonesians are required to file their tax returns by the end of March.

Indonesia’s tax rates range from 5 to 35 percent, depending on income. The Ministry of Finance announced last month that Indonesia had collected 162 trillion Indonesian rupiah ($10.6 billion) in taxes as of January 2023, an increase of nearly 50 percent year-on-year.

“People get upset because they are expected to pay taxes and comply with tax rules, but their tax money ends up subsidizing the lifestyles of these senior tax officials. That is why there is now so much outrage about this case,” Arifianto said.

Indonesia ranks 110th out of 180 countries in Transparency International’s Corruption Perceptions Index 2022, down 14 places from the previous year.

“We see corruption not only in the tax authorities, but in many other government sectors. The Corruption Eradication Commission often focuses on cases that have caused state losses directly from the state budget, but beyond that there are many other cases of corruption of state funds, such as misappropriation of taxpayers’ money,” said Kamal Pane, an Indonesian lawyer specializing in corruption cases. said Al Jazeera.

Pane said authorities should be able to explain how the tax collector got his wealth.

“The Godfather by Mario Puzo opens with a quote from Balzac that says, ‘Behind every great fortune there is a crime,'” he said. “That’s what this is about. It must be clear where the money comes from.”

Speaking at a press conference on Wednesday, Pahala Nainggolan, a senior official at the Corruption Eradication Commission, said questions had been raised about Trisambodo’s finances before and that he had first been investigated in 2018.

“In terms of administration in the field it was correct, as far as his bank accounts and those of his wife and child were concerned, they were all correct. But with so much wealth and so much activity with his bank accounts, we thought something was off,” Nainggolan said, adding that at the time the commission felt it didn’t have enough evidence to continue with the investigation.

Nainggolan said a team of investigators was recently sent to North Minahasa in North Sulawesi and to Yogyakarta in Java to investigate businesses and homes purportedly owned by Trisambodo and his family, and investigations are still ongoing.

Trisambodo’s son is not the only government-connected figure accused of improperly flaunting wealth.

On Sunday, Finance Minister Indrawati said officials at the Directorate General of the Tax Office (DJP) should immediately dissolve a motorcycle club they had set up because the attention it received could bring the tax office into disrepute.

“Even if the big bikes are obtained with clean money or official salaries, it is inappropriate to drive them around and show them off in front of officials and employees of tax authorities and the Ministry of Finance,” she wrote in an Instagram post.

As the fallout to the IRS continues, the teen who was video assaulted remains in a coma, and his family has reportedly applied to join the witness protection program given the high-profile nature of the case and those involved.

Satriyo has been arrested and named a suspect in the case, along with his friend, 19-year-old Shane Lukas Rotua, who allegedly videotaped the attack. Both face up to five years in prison for aggravated assault if found guilty.

Arifianto, the RSIS fellow, said the public’s cynicism about the special treatment of the country’s elites extended to the legal process involving Trisambodo’s son.

“People suspect that the taxman’s son could get away with a slap on the wrist from assault [the teen]but if it was an ordinary person who did it, they would face severe punishment,” Arifianto said.