Disciplinary committee for Bulog scam unlikely<\/p>\n
Bambang Nurbianto and Abu Hanifah, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
Legislators gave the cold shoulder on Friday to anticorruption
\nactivists' calls for the House of Representatives to set up a
\ndisciplinary committee to investigate the speaker's alleged
\ninvolvement in a Rp 40 billion corruption case.<\/p>\n
Some argued that the House's code of ethics adopted a month
\nago did not allow investigation into a case that involved
\npoliticians before they became House members.<\/p>\n
Akbar Tandjung allegedly siphoned off money from the National
\nLogistics Agency (Bulog) to the Golkar Party in 1999 when he was
\nminister\/state secretary and Golkar chairman.<\/p>\n
Others said that they would rather concentrate on efforts to
\nform a special committee to investigate the role of House Speaker
\nAkbar Tandjung in the corruption scandal.<\/p>\n
\"The code of ethics only aims at showing recalcitrant
\nlegislators their past mistakes. If they are found guilty, they
\nwill be read the riot act. That's all,\" said Amin Said Husni, a
\nlegislator from the National Awakening Party (PKB).<\/p>\n
The call for a disciplinary committee came from a coalition of
\n16 NGO activists who see the efforts to set up a special
\ncommittee to investigate Akbar go nowhere.<\/p>\n
The seasoned Golkar legislators have even managed to shoot
\ndown advocates' bid to put the debate on the committee formation
\non the agenda of the upcoming House Plenary Session.<\/p>\n
NGO activists say that forming a disciplinary committee would
\nbe a simpler procedure than setting up a special committee.<\/p>\n
Legislator Taufikurachman Saleh, of PKB, the party which has
\nbeen the most outspoken on the scandal, said he did not believe
\nanyone would support the disciplinary committee idea.<\/p>\n
Even politicians from the largest faction, the Indonesian
\nDemocratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan), are skeptical
\nabout it.<\/p>\n
Roy B.B. Janis, chairman of PDI Perjuangan, the largest
\nfaction in the House, said that his short-term target was to put
\nthe debate on the establishment of the special investigative
\ncommittee on the agenda of the upcoming Plenary Session scheduled
\nfor Dec. 6.<\/p>\n
\"We are concentrating on this effort,\" Roy told The Jakarta
\nPost.<\/p>\n
Fellow PDI Perjuangan legislator, Jacobus Mayongpadang, added,
\n\"if we split our concentration (between the special committee and
\na disciplinary committee) it will waste our energy.\"<\/p>\n
Voicing the same skepticism was chairman of the Reform faction
\nAhmad Farhan Hamid. He said the committee could not be formed
\nuntil hard evidence was found of Akbar's role in the scandal.<\/p>",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
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