Kudos to the House<\/p>\n
Kudos to the special committee of the House of Representatives
\n(DPR) for their perseverance in looking for evidence of
\ninvolvement of just anybody, including the President, in the
\nBulog, Brunei and other scams. I have my respect for those
\ndemanding that President Abdurrahman Wahid or Gus Dur step down
\nfor his alleged involvement in the above mentioned cases.<\/p>\n
However, as Gus Dur is a democratically elected President in a
\npresidential system and because the constitution states that he
\nwill be president for five years, the parties criticizing Gus Dur
\nor trying to bring him down must stick to the laws and the
\nconstitution. Rallies may be staged to show dislike for Gus Dur
\nbut they must be held in ways that do not disturb public order
\nand that are free from coercion.<\/p>\n
Staging violent rallies to bring Gus Dur down will be counter-
\nproductive because supporters of Gus Dur are sure to fight back.
\nTherefore, any criticism must be channeled through the
\nlegislators in the DPR because the general election in 1999 was
\nthe fairest of all.<\/p>\n
Then, if bringing down the President cannot be realized on the
\ngrounds of his violating the constitution or the broad outlines
\nof the state policy, the safest way to do so is to legally prove
\nthat the President has committed a crime.<\/p>\n
In this context, I support the hard effort that the House
\nspecial committee has been making to probe into a number of
\ncases. However, as a legal matter requires something to be proven
\nand not simply assumed, the House special committee must
\nimmediately hand over existing evidence to the judicial
\ninstitution for processing on a legal basis.<\/p>\n
If later it turns out that Gus Dur is legally and convincingly
\nproven to be involved in those cases, the DPR may convene a
\nspecial session to dismiss Gus Dur as president. On the other
\nhand, if Gus Dur cannot be proven to be involved in those cases,
\nthe House and the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) need not
\nbring Gus Dur down before he completes his term as president.
\nAlthough the MPR has the right to dismiss the President, it will
\nviolate the constitution if it brings down the President before
\nhis five-year tenure is completed because it is the constitution
\nthat has given Gus Dur a five-year mandate as Indonesia's
\npresident.<\/p>\n
Once again, the only way to bring down the President is to
\nprove that he has committed a crime and then convene a special
\nsession of the MPR to discharge him.<\/p>\n
NURROHMAN<\/p>\n
Bandung<\/p>", "url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/kudos-to-the-house-1447893297", "image": "" }, "sponsor": "Okusi Associates", "sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com" }