Political battle between Amien and Laksamana heats up<\/p>\n
Moch. N. Kurniawan, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
A political battle is close to peaking ahead of the 2004
\nelections between People's Consultative Assembly Speaker Amien
\nRais and State Minister for State Enterprises Laksamana Sukardi
\nas the two figures are determined to settle their differences
\nover the privatization issue in court.<\/p>\n
Amien, who is also chairman of the National Mandate Party
\n(PAN), refused on Thursday to bend to Laksamana's demand for him
\nto apologize for his comments against the minister and his
\npolicies on privatization.<\/p>\n
Speaking to journalists in Jakarta, Amien instead challenged
\nLaksamana -- also a senior figure with the Indonesian Democratic
\nParty of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan) -- to take him to court in
\nresponse to the minister's legal notification against the MPR
\nspeaker last week.<\/p>\n
Responding to Amien's refusal to apologize through the mass
\nmedia, Laksamana's lawyer Amir Syamsuddin told Metro TV station
\non Thursday that his client would soon file a lawsuit against
\nAmien for branding the minister a \"foreign agent\", who sold state
\ncompanies cheaply and not transparently.<\/p>\n
In a recent interview with the Forum Keadilan weekly magazine,
\nAmien, when asked about the man behind the government's decision
\nto exonerate debtors from criminal charges, said: \"I don't need
\nto mention a name. However, I see a very dangerous minister in
\nthe Gotong Royong Cabinet. I have long been suspicious that this
\nperson is actually a foreign agent. I doubt if there is a little
\nnationalism, a feeling of love for the nation in this person\".<\/p>\n
Although the conflict will likely go to court, it will also
\ndrag Amien's PAN and Laksamana's PDI Perjuangan into a heated
\npolitical battle ahead of the 2004 elections.<\/p>\n
Laksamana controls trillions of rupiah of state assets, which
\nhis political rivals said could be misused to support PDI
\nPerjuangan's coffers for the financing of his party's electoral
\ncampaigns.<\/p>\n
Political analyst Ikrar Nusa Bhakti said on Thursday the
\nLaksamana-Amien legal battle was politically motivated.<\/p>\n
It was part of Amien's early campaign to run for the
\npresidency in 2004, he added.<\/p>\n
Ikrar said Amien and PAN were also trying to show to the
\npublic that they were more nationalistic than PDI Perjuangan,
\nwhich President Megawati Soekarnoputri currently chairs, in the
\nissue of the national privatization program.<\/p>\n
Another political analyst, Andi Mallarangeng, concurred with
\nIkrar, saying: \"The conflict between Amien and Laksamana is
\npolitically motivated\".<\/p>\n
However, Andi said many people had voiced similar criticism
\nover the complaints Amien raised against Laksamana over the
\nprivatization issue.<\/p>\n
Amien insisted on Thursday that the government had made a
\nmistake by selling state assets \"cheaply and arbitrarily\",
\nincluding state-owned telecommunications firm PT Indosat, thus
\nprompting losses to the country.<\/p>\n
At least 41.9 percent of government shares in Indosat was sold
\nfor Rp 5.6 trillion (US$610 million) to Singapore
\ntelecommunications firm Singapore Technologies Telemedia Ltd.
\n(STT).<\/p>\n
Economists and other critics of Laksamana, including activists
\nof the Indonesian Corruption Watch (ICW), said that Indosat's
\nprice was too low as it could have been sold for an additional Rp
\n1.8 trillion, or over Rp 8 trillion.<\/p>\n
They also accused the Indosat sale of not being transparent
\nand that there was a lack of accountability as the actual buyer
\nwas Indonesian Communication Ltd.<\/p>\n
In addition, Indosat's workers have opposed the sale of their
\ncompany to a foreign firm.<\/p>\n
Andi threw his support behind a legal settlement to solve the
\nLaksamana-Amien dispute in the hopes that the court would be able
\nto disclose whether Indosat's sale was transparent and
\naccountable.<\/p>\n
However, Ikrar suggested that Laksamana and Amien should
\nsettle their case amicably by arranging a meeting between the
\nboth of them to clarify the dispute.<\/p>\n
The House of Representatives should also hold a hearing with
\nLaksamana over Indosat's sale to investigate its transparency, he
\nadded.<\/p>\n
\"If Laksamana and Amien press ahead with their legal battle,
\nthere will be no winner or loser. Laksamana could lose the
\ncurrent battle as his case is weak, but the actual problem of
\nprivatization has not been resolved,\" Ikrar said.<\/p>",
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