Pro-govt legislators boycott meetings<\/p>\n
Kurniawan Hari, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
Five factions supporting President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono
\nboycotted on Tuesday a House of Representatives (DPR) plenary
\nmeeting and refused to submit candidates names for the election
\nof committee leaders.<\/p>\n
The move renders it almost impossible for commissions and
\nauxiliary bodies to choose their leaders, necessary to draw up
\ntheir work timetable.<\/p>\n
The absence of the five factions -- the United Development
\nParty (PPP), the Democratic Party (PD), the National Mandate
\nParty (PAN), the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) and the
\nDemocratic Pioneer Star (BPD) -- raised fears that the maneuver
\nwould delay all other activities in the House, including the
\ntalks on the replacement of Indonesian Military (TNI) chief.<\/p>\n
House Speaker Agung Laksono decided to delay the plenary
\nmeeting until Wednesday, but the five factions said Tuesday that
\nthey would boycott the meeting until their demands were met.<\/p>\n
The five factions, known also as the People's Coalition group,
\nhad demanded that commission and auxiliary bodies chairmanships
\nbe distributed proportionally among factions, which means bigger
\nfactions would get more chairmanships than smaller ones.<\/p>\n
All 10 factions in the House had earlier agreed on such an
\narrangement on Oct. 18, but it later hit a snag as factions
\nsquabbled over the leadership of desirable commissions.<\/p>\n
That prompted factions belonging to the Nationhood Coalition
\n-- consisting of the Golkar Party, the Indonesian Democratic
\nParty of Struggle, the Reform Star Faction and the Prosperous
\nPeace Party -- to propose that the commission and auxiliary body
\nchairmanships be put to vote.<\/p>\n
The National Awakening Party (PKB), which had previously
\njoined the People's Coalition, has thrown its support behind the
\nNationhood Coalition.<\/p>\n
Should the chairmanships be put to vote, the Nationhood
\nCoalition would likely win all the top places in the commission
\nand auxiliary bodies, a situation that could stymie all Susilo's
\nplanned reforms.<\/p>\n
The People's Coalition's boycott means the members of the
\nNationhood Coalition can not hold the election as House internal
\nregulations stipulate a plenary meeting must be attended by more
\nthan half of the coalitions in the House.<\/p>\n
\"We have delay the plenary meeting because we cannot make any
\ndecisions under such circumstances,\" Agung said, referring to the
\nmeeting that was only attended by five factions.<\/p>\n
Under the House's standing orders, a meeting can make decision
\nif it is attended by more than half of the factions or at least
\nsix factions.<\/p>\n
Earlier, factions in the House agreed that Golkar, which has
\nbiggest number of votes will have four commission chairmanship
\nposts and 11 deputy chairmanship posts.<\/p>\n
The PDI-P would get three chairmanship and nine deputy
\nchairmanship posts, while the PPP, the Democrats, and PAN would
\nget two chairmanship posts each, with the PKB only one.<\/p>\n
The PKB rejected the scheme, claiming the division unfair.
\nHolding 52 seats, it demanded two chairmanship posts, equal to
\nPAN which has 53 seats.<\/p>\n
Sources said that the PKB initiated a new scheme and sought
\nsupport from Golkar and PDI-P factions to sweep chairmanship
\nposts in all the commissions and the auxiliary bodies.<\/p>\n
Under the election proposal, Golkar, PDI-P, and PKB would get
\nseven, six, and three chairmanship posts respectively.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/pro-govt-legislators-boycott-meetings-1447893297",
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