Akbar denies conspiracy to topple government

JAKARTA (JP): House of Representatives Speaker Akbar Tandjung denied on Monday there was a political conspiracy to discredit the "axis force" coalition of political parties and President Abdurrahman Wahid.

Akbar, who is also Golkar Party chairman, acknowledged there was criticism of the government from all sides, but he said it was normal as part of the effort to uphold checks and balances.

"The fact that many people, including senior ulemas, have criticized the President and his policies is absolutely normal in a democracy. Not only the House, but the Golkar Party will be critical of the government. Such criticism should not be seen as a political conspiracy to discredit the President," he said after a House plenary session here on Monday.

Akbar was commenting on a statement by Minister of the Empowerment of Women Khofifah Indar Parawansa, who claimed there was a conspiracy involving several politicians to topple Abdurrahman's government by pitting him against the axis force, a loose affiliation of Muslim-based parties which nominated Abdurrahman for the presidency.

Rifts were detected in Abdurrahman's relationship with the axis force following the resignation of Coordinating Minister for People's Welfare and Poverty Eradication Hamzah Haz, who chairs the United Development Party, the biggest member of the axis force.

Akbar said it would not be easy to topple the President, except through illegal means, such as violating the Constitution and the State Policy Guidelines.

During the plenary session, Tosari Wijaya was sworn in as deputy House speaker representing PPP in place of Hamzah, who relinquished his legislative post after being appointed to the Cabinet.

Separately, Ismail Hasan Metareum, chairman of PPP's advisory council, echoed suspicions that a particular group was trying to weaken the axis and discredit the government.

"I feel a certain group is trying to undermine the axis force. It is trying to cripple the axis force and Muslim parties," Ismail said on the sidelines of the party's leadership meeting.

He said the "attack" on the axis force could be seen from a protest recently submitted by the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan) over National Mandate Party chairman and People's Consultative Assembly Speaker Amien Rais' statement on federalism.

Ismail said he believed the attack against the axis force was conducted by certain members of PDI Perjuangan, but was not a concerted policy of the party.

PPP executive Zarkasih Nur, who is also state minister of cooperatives, small and medium enterprises, played down the alleged attack against the government and axis force.

"I often hold different opinions than my friends. I don't see any attacks from other parties against the axis force," Zarkasih said in the party's executive meeting on Monday.

He claimed he was close to ministers from PDI Perjuangan.

Commenting on Hamzah's resignation from the Cabinet, Zarkasih said the President should give two more ministerial positions to PPP if he proceeded with his plan to remove three ministers for alleged past corruption.

"PPP should deserve at least two positions in the Cabinet because it gained more than 40 House seats in the June general election," Zarkasih said.

He said PPP secretary-general Ali Marwan Hanan and Tosari fit the bill for ministerial jobs. (jun/rms)