Akbar admits House's failure to perform legislative tasks
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
House of Representatives (DPR) Speaker Akbar Tandjung claimed on Thursday the legislative body had exercised its right to investigate alleged acts of corruption and collusion, but failed to mention the controversial Buloggate II corruption case, which the DPR has not investigated and in which Akbar is a suspect.
The Speaker also admitted the House had failed to perform its main task as a law-making body.
In his report at the Annual Session of the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR), Akbar said the House was unable to complete its task of passing 70 bills submitted last year.
"(This failure) was because we lack facilities, experts and financial support," he said.
He said the House had passed 23 of the 70 bills, with the remaining 47 bills still under discussion. Of the total number of bills, 40 were proposed by the government while the remaining 30 were initiated by the House.
In a recent consultative meeting between the House and the government, Akbar said the House needed more money from the government if it was to be able to speed of the process of passing bills.
Without saying how much money the House was asking for, President Megawati Soekarnoputri responded positively to the demand.
Akbar also said in his report at the Annual Session that the House had investigated several alleged cases of corruption and collusion, including the alleged misuse of Presidential Aid (Banpres) funds.
"We set up a small team to investigate the (Banpres) problem," Akbar, who is also the chairman of the Golkar Party, said without alluding to the results of the investigation.
The House, he said, had also investigated allegations of corruption and collusion at state-owned oil and gas company Pertamina and at the central bank.
The Speaker, however, did not mention the House's failure to establish a special committee to investigate the alleged misuse of Rp 40 billion (US$4.4 million) belonging to the State Logistics Agency (Bulog), in a case in which he is implicated.
Akbar, along with two other defendants, is currently on trial at the Central Jakarta District Court for his alleged role in the matter. Prosecutors demanded last week that the court sentence Akbar to four years in jail, which is the minimum sentence allowed for in the anticorruption law under which Akbar has been charged. Many observers suspect this light sentence demand is the result of a political compromise between Akbar and President Megawati.
Golkar and Megawati's Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan) foiled efforts by the House to set up a special committee to investigate the so-called Buloggate II case on July 1.
Three days later, the small team assigned to investigate the Banpres matter concluded that there were no irregularities in the use of the money. The team's findings cleared State Secretary Bambang Kesowo, a close aide to Megawati, of any wrongdoing.
The team was set up after Megawati donated Rp 30 billion from the Banpres fund for the renovation of military and police barracks.