Akbar inquiry hangs in the balance

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The formation of a special House of Representatives inquiry into alleged misuse of State Logistic Agency (Bulog) funds remains delicately balanced amid growing anxiety that the proposal would be killed off by back room politicking.

While late night sessions could still tip the balance, analysts and party officials seem resigned that the House in its plenary session on Monday will reject a motion to set up a special committee into the financial scam that implicated its speaker, Akbar Tandjung, due to the unexpected rapid development of the formal investigation.

Political observer J. Kristiadi said in Semarang on Sunday that PDI Perjuangan would not support the special committee but, should the legal proceedings become hampered, the party would be the one to initiate such a committee.

"This is just a move to buy time in order to reach a political compromise, and the call for the legal process from Megawati was meant to avoid frictions inside her own party over the special committee," Kristiadi said.

He predicted that PDI Perjuangan would let the legal process continue and use the House Commission II on Legal and Home Affairs to supervise the process but would, in the end, support the committee should the legal process run so slow.

However, Kristiadi noted that the political process was truly needed to restore the legislative body's image that was hurt as they were led by a corruption suspect.

Chairman of the United Development Party of Reform (PPP- Reformasi) Zainuddin MZ said on Sunday in Padang, West Sumatra, that he believed that PDI Perjuangan would not support the special committee, as it could destroy the party.

He said that PDI Perjuangan was threatened by the possibility of a special congress to replace Megawati should the committee be established.

"It also raises suspicions that what Gus Dur had said was true -- that more than 10 parties were involved in the scam," Zainuddin said, referring to former president Abdurrahman Wahid's earlier statement on the case.

Golkar Party official Ferry Mursyidan Baldan said on Sunday that Golkar would stick to its stance of rejecting the committee, saying that it would only serve to create political instability.

"We are not allowed to threaten anybody, but it is common that any political action will have political consequences. And if PDI Perjuangan wants to settle the problem, leave it to the legal process, as the political decision will only create chaos," Ferry told The Jakarta Post after the party's meeting.

The trial of Akbar, also the Golkar Party chairman, is expected to open on Monday, the time when the House legislators convene to make a decision on the proposal.

The influential Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan) which, on March 7, stated its support for the inquiry, popularly called a pansus, hinted on Saturday a change of mind due to the speed of the investigation.

Akbar is alleged to have been involved in the embezzlement of Rp 40 billion of non-budgetary funds belonging to the State Logistics Agency (Bulog) when he was the minister/state secretary in 1999.

"Our stance is clear since the beginning that we support a pansus, provided that the legal process runs in line with our expectations. If the legal process goes well, we don't need a pansus," said Sutjipto, the secretary general of President Megawati Soekarnoputri's PDI Perjuangan, which holds the most seats in the House.

After Akbar's detention on March 7, investigators took another week to draft charges to be heard before the trial. The process normally needs at least two weeks.

When the House delayed making a decision as to whether to form the pansus inquiry team to probe the scandal, five factions were in favor of its formation, and five others against it.

Political analysts doubted that the House would vote for the motion.

"Some 65 percent of House members would say no to the proposal on the grounds that the legal process has moved at such an extreme speed," Bachtiar Effendy predicted on Saturday.

He said that support for the pansus would come from small factions, namely the National Awakening Party, the Democracy and Love Nation Faction, and the Indonesian Unity and Nationhood Faction.

The recent revelation by former president Abdurrahman Wahid that Bulog non-budgetary funds also went to other parties, including PDI Perjuangan and the United Development Party (PPP), would stiffen opposition to the pansus, Bachtiar said.

"Those concerned parties are trying to prevent the possibility that Golkar would provide damaging evidence to the report that the two major parties had received Bulog funds, should the pansus be established," he said, after a political discussion at the Peninsula Hotel here.

Abdurrahman, chief patron of Alwi Shihab's National Awakening Party, said last week that some 10 parties received Bulog funds, including PDI Perjuangan and PPP.

While PDI Perjuangan has remained silent about the allegations, PPP chairman and Vice President Hamzah Haz denied Abdurrahman's statement.

Another political observer, Riswanda Imawan, said that he did not expect the House to endorse a pansus, unless the legislative body allowed a secret ballot to decide on the issue.

"The House members won't be able to exercise their right to vote freely in an open ballot, since they are afraid of their party's punishment," he said.

Meanwhile, activists of the University of Indonesia's student executive board, People's Democratic Party and the Indonesian Muslim Student Movement pledged on Saturday to take to the streets on Monday to put pressure on the House to set up the pansus.

The groups claimed that they would mobilize 15,000 people, including many students.