House urged to do spring cleaning, starting with Akbar<\/p>\n
Muhammad Nafik
\nThe Jakarta Post
\nJakarta<\/p>\n
Apart from completing the delayed deliberations of numerous draft
\nlaws as its priority agenda, the House of Representatives should
\nno longer shun the widespread demands for a graft inquiry into
\nits own Speaker Akbar Tandjung, say observers.<\/p>\n
The observers were speaking separately to The Jakarta Post
\nhere on Saturday as the House was scheduled to end its month-long
\nrecess and commence on Monday.<\/p>\n
The debate over the need to establish a special committee to
\nlook into Akbar, locally known by its acronym as Pansus, is
\nexpected to be on offer later this month.<\/p>\n
\"The establishment of Pansus on Akbar is extremely crucial to
\nknow the evil scenario behind this scandal,\" J. Kristiadi said,
\nreferring to the Akbar's current status as a defendant in a major
\ncorruption trial.<\/p>\n
He argued that not only did the discrepancies, which surfaced
\nduring the trials implicate Akbar, but that he was also trying to
\n\"fool the public, and insulting our common sense\".<\/p>\n
\"And this should therefore be uncovered further by setting up
\nthe inquiry committee,\" Kristiadi added.<\/p>\n
He said the committee would be able to \"clarify the goings-on
\nthat have been covered up\" in the trials.<\/p>\n
Akbar, also chairman of the Golkar Party -- which is the
\nsecond largest faction in the House -- is on trial facing charges
\nof misuse of Rp 40 billion funds from the State Logistics Agency
\n(Bulog), when he served as minister\/state secretary in former
\npresident B.J. Habibie's Cabinet in 1999.<\/p>\n
He and other suspects in the same case had claimed the funds
\nwere disbursed to provide food aid packages for the needy.<\/p>\n
But public lies surfaced later when two suspects, businessman
\nWinfried Simatupang and chairman of the Islamic Raudlatul Jannah
\nFoundation Dadang Sukandar, confessed that the funds had not been
\nspent on the project.<\/p>\n
With the discrepancies emerging in the court, Kristiadi
\nfurther said he was convinced that Akbar would no longer be able
\nto avoid conviction.<\/p>\n
\"It's seems very difficult now for Akbar to escape this one.
\nHe has only two choices -- to save himself or Golkar,\" added the
\npolitical scientist from the Centre for Strategic and
\nInternational Studies (CSIS).<\/p>\n
Harkristuti Harkrisnowo, criminologist of the University of
\nIndonesia, was of a similar view that the establishment of Pansus
\nto investigate Akbar should remain on the top of the House's
\nagenda as the court proceedings were still \"unpredictable\".<\/p>\n
However, she underlined that the proposed House investigation
\nshould not affect the ongoing trial for the scandal, widely
\ndubbed as \"Buloggate II\".<\/p>\n
She instead said that what should be treated as the top
\npriority for the legislature was to speed up the deliberation of
\na number of bills needed to be endorsed as soon as possible.<\/p>\n
Of 22 bills listed for priority in the last sitting period,
\nonly two were endorsed while twenty others were delayed, to be
\ndeliberated upon in the upcoming session.<\/p>\n
Concurring with Harkristuti and Kristiadi was constitutional
\nlaw expert Satya Arinanto, also from the University of Indonesia.
\nHe urged the legislature to continue to pursue the previously-
\nomitted debates on the need to examine the Bulog scandal.<\/p>\n
He argued that the political and legal measures against Akbar
\nshould be undertaken simultaneously so as to further unravel the
\nclandestine scenario in the scandal.<\/p>\n
The three experts also agreed on urging the House and the
\ngovernment to prioritize the deliberations of three political
\nbills, which were still being held at the Ministry of Home
\nAffairs for unclear reasons.<\/p>\n
The government was scheduled to submit the antiterrorism bill
\nin June to show its commitment to fighting the war on terror.<\/p>",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
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