'Boxing' legislators bury the hatchet<\/p>\n
Fabiola Desy Unidja and Abu Hanifah, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
Embarrassed by Thursday's brawl at the opening session of the
\nPeople's Consultative Assembly, legislators ducked for cover
\nwhenever the incident was raised on Friday.<\/p>\n
They said they did not want to hear it discussed again in
\npublic because all the involved lawmakers had agreed to bury the
\nhatchet and forgive each other.<\/p>\n
But the nationally televised incident of the opening of the
\n10-day Annual Session remained a hot topic everywhere.<\/p>\n
Vice President Hamzah Haz discussed it when addressing Friday
\nmass prayers at a mosque in the Tanah Abang area, Central
\nJakarta. He said he was amazed that legislators had resorted to
\nphysical violence to resolve a problem.<\/p>\n
\"See yesterday's brawl? I could have understood it if they had
\nbeen kids, but they were adults,\" he said. He regretted the
\nincident.<\/p>\n
\"We usually see such behavior happen in other countries, but
\nwe saw our legislators at it yesterday.\"<\/p>\n
The scuffle pitted legislators demanding recognition of the
\nre-establishment of the regional representatives faction, a
\nlegacy of the New Order regime, in one corner and those opposed
\nto it in the other corner.<\/p>\n
At least one legislator, Marah Simon from the Indonesian
\nDemocratic Party of Struggle (PDIP), was hurt. Assembly Speaker
\nAmien Rais immediately apologized to the nation for the fight.<\/p>\n
In the latest development, legislators seeking re-
\nestablishment of the 130-member Regional faction, which was
\ndismantled in 1999, seemed to have lost their fight. Major
\nfactions rejected their demands.<\/p>\n
When presenting their assessment of the government
\naccountability report on Friday, most factions in the Assembly
\nended their speech expressing their regret of the fight.<\/p>\n
Jacob Tobing, a PDIP senior legislator at the Assembly said,
\n\"It's over and we don't want to hear it raised again.\"<\/p>\n
Although the incident was very much regretted, the Assembly
\nleadership do not have any plan to investigate it, neither do
\nthey plan to punish the \"fighters\" who have tarnished the
\ninstitution's image.<\/p>\n
The brawl was the first to have occurred in the Assembly's
\nhistory.<\/p>\n
Article 67 in MPR Decree No. II\/1999 on the MPR's internal
\nrule stipulates that legislators who disrupt a session are
\nsubject to a verbal warning and expulsion from the convention
\nroom if the warning is ignored.<\/p>\n
Patrialis Akbar, lawmaker of the National Mandate Party (PAN),
\nblamed the incident partly on Amien Rais, who he said was not
\nstrict enough in leading the session.<\/p>",
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