Megawati begins to feel the heat in government<\/p>\n
Bambang Nurbianto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
President Megawati Soekarnoputri is facing difficulties in
\nleading the government due to the failure of her party's
\nlegislators to control the House of Representatives, political
\nanalysts say.<\/p>\n
"Megawati now feels that her government cannot carry out its
\nwork effectively because the House spends too much of its time
\nscrutinizing her," political analyst from the Centre for
\nStrategic and International Studies (CSIS) Kusnanto Anggoro told
\nThe Jakarta Post on Sunday.<\/p>\n
Denny J.A., from Jakarta-based Jayabaya University, shared a
\nsimilar view, saying that Megawati had begun to experience the
\nsame difficulties that befell her predecessor, former president
\nAbdurrahman Wahid.<\/p>\n
Both Kusnanto and Denny made the remarks in response to
\nMegawati's criticism of legislators, claiming that their internal
\nbickering had hampered the reform process.<\/p>\n
Kusnanto said that being a president during such a
\ntransitional period was difficult because of the all-powerful
\nlegislative body.<\/p>\n
The government is required to work efficiently to solve
\nvarious pressing problems, but the government's initiatives are
\nfrequently not implemented because many policies have to gain
\napproval first from the House, he said.<\/p>\n
He added that the situation had got worse since the House
\nacquired legislative, judicial and executive powers.<\/p>\n
The legislative function includes law making, while the
\njudicial function involves the creation of the House's special
\ncommittees to probe certain cases. The executive function
\nincludes the right of the House to take part in the appointment
\nof state officials like the national police chief, military
\ncommander, ambassadors, etc.<\/p>\n
"Under such conditions the government cannot work well if
\nlegislators of the president's party are unable to control the
\nHouse," said Kusnanto.<\/p>\n
Denny said that Megawati's government actually needed a party
\nlike Golkar to form a strong coalition government with. But a
\ncoalition with Golkar would mean that she would find it difficult
\nto fulfill her promise of cracking down on corruption.<\/p>\n
If the 153 seats of Megawati's Indonesian Democratic Party of
\nStruggle (PDI Perjuangan) in the House were to be combined with
\nthose held by the Golkar Party (120), then they would become the
\nmajority in the 500-member legislative body.<\/p>\n
Denny said that it would not be easy for Megawati to hold a
\ncoalition with the Central Axis because it consists of several
\nparties with varying political agendas.<\/p>\n
The Central Axis is a group of politicians from Muslim
\nparties, including the United Development Party, National Mandate
\nParty, the Crescent and Star Party and Justice Party. Jointly,
\nthey have 112 seats in the House.<\/p>\n
Golkar and Central Axis took part in enabling Megawati to
\nbecome president in the People's Consultative Assembly's Special
\nSession last July.<\/p>\n
On Sunday, Golkar threatened to withdraw its support for
\nMegawati's leadership if her legislators supported the creation
\nof the House special committee to probe Golkar Chairman Akbar
\nTandjung in a corruption case.<\/p>",
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