PDI legislators may be absent from crash course<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): The Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI) central
\nboard announced yesterday it will let its 11 House of
\nRepresentatives members decide for themselves if they wish to
\nparticipate in government-sponsored legislative crash courses.<\/p>\n
President Soeharto has assigned State Minister of Special
\nAssignments Harmoko to coordinate the courses which are aimed at
\nimproving the quality of 500 legislators who will be installed on
\nOct. 1.<\/p>\n
\"Our legislators are free to attend or skip the courses, and
\nwe won't impose any sanctions on absentees,\" PDI secretary-
\ngeneral Buttu Hutapea said after addressing eight party
\nrepresentatives who will join the courses.<\/p>\n
Buttu made the statement amid reports that a PDI legislator
\nrefused to participate in the courses to be opened today by
\nPresident Soeharto at the State Palace.<\/p>\n
\"But we suggest they take part in the courses, because at
\nleast they'll be able to get to know each other and be able to
\ntrade information with the government,\" Buttu said.<\/p>\n
Buttu said one of his party's legislators, Y.B. Wiyanjono,
\nappeared likely to miss the courses due to personal family
\ncommitments.<\/p>\n
Wiyanjono, who will serve a second five-year term, was not
\navailable for comment yesterday, but his niece, Uti, told The
\nJakarta Post that her uncle was in his hometown of Yogyakarta and
\nwould arrive here on Monday.<\/p>\n
The courses will be held at the Bogor Presidential Palace,
\nWest Java, and organized by the agency for the study of the
\nstate-ideology Pancasila (BP7).<\/p>\n
Participants will be divided into five groups. The first batch
\nwill run from Sunday through Friday, the second group is
\nscheduled to start Aug. 19 and the remaining groups will meet in
\nthe following weeks.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile the composition of PDI legislators at the House has
\nchanged with Markus Wauran replacing Amin Hadi, who resigned his
\nseat.<\/p>\n
Markus, whose second five-year term ends Sept. 30, was fifth
\nbehind Amin on the list of legislative candidates from East Java.<\/p>\n
Amin was the second elected East Java legislator to resign
\nafter Dimmy Haryanto refused a second House term to pave the way
\nfor veteran Budi Hardjono.<\/p>\n
PDI won only two House seats from East Java in the May 29
\ngeneral election.<\/p>\n
Sanctions<\/p>\n
Speaking about the courses, Minister Harmoko said Thursday
\nthat they were not compulsory and there would not be any
\nsanctions against those who did not attend.<\/p>\n
\"There's no problem if they miss the courses. We're not going
\nto force them to go, because maybe they're not healthy enough or
\ntoo busy doing other things,\" Harmoko said.<\/p>\n
He said some Golkar legislators asked him to change their
\ncourse schedules because of illness or uncompleted business.<\/p>\n
The May 29 general election saw Golkar win 325 House seats,
\nthe United Development Party 89 and PDI 11. The remaining 75
\nseats were reserved for the Armed Forces, whose members did not
\nvote.<\/p>\n
Separately, BP7 agency head Alwi Dahlan guaranteed yesterday
\nthat the courses would not serve as a forum to indoctrinate
\nlegislators.<\/p>\n
\"It's impossible to do that because both the course
\ninstructors and legislators are indoctrination-proof people,\"
\nAlwi was quoted by Antara as saying.<\/p>\n
Among the course instructors will be Alwi himself, Kompas
\ndaily chief editor Jakob Oetama, National Commission on Human
\nRights secretary-general Baharuddin Lopa, former minister of
\njustice Ismail Saleh, legal expert Satjipto Rahardjo and National
\nResilience Institute deputy governor Juwono Sudarsono.<\/p>\n
Alwi said the legislators would discuss 10 topics, including
\nfreedom of speech, national resilience, constitutional amendments
\nand global change.<\/p>\n
He said the press would be barred from covering the courses in
\norder \"to make them a success\". (amd)<\/p>",
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