Akbar pressured to surrender his DPR post on moral grounds

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Due to the absence of specific legal grounds to force detained House of Representatives (DPR) Speaker Akbar Tandjung to relinquish his top legislative post, several lawmakers on Wednesday called for Akbar to declare himself non-active on moral grounds.

The legislators said Akbar's willingness to declare himself non-active as regards his duties in the House would help the legislature improve its battered image.

"If he (Akbar Tandjung) respects the House, he should think of declaring himself non-active from his daily duties," said Panda Nababan of the House's most influential Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan) faction here on Wednesday.

Fellow legislator from the less powerful Indonesian Nationhood Unity (KKI) faction Sutradara Gintings concurred, saying that based on morality and political ethics Akbar should relinquish his post.

"He should declare himself non-active until a final ruling on his case has been made by the court," said Gintings.

Pramono Anung of the PDI Perjuangan suggested that a disciplinary committee should be set up to review the case thoroughly.

Akbar, who has been detained at the Attorney General's Office since Thursday, is one of the suspects in a case involving the misuse of Rp 40 billion belonging to the State Logistics Agency (Bulog). The money was previously claimed to have been spent on financing a food for the poor project in 1999. But recently, the money was suddenly returned to state investigators, implying that the public had been deceived.

The use of ethical and moral grounds to demand Akbar's suspension has been suggested by the legislators because of the absence of legal grounds that could force the House speaker into stepping aside, albeit temporarily.

None of the existing laws and decrees of the People's Consultative Assembly can force Akbar to leave the top legislative post.

Assembly Decree No.VIII/2001 on guidelines for the eradication of corruption, collusion, and nepotism provides only for administrative sanctions against any state official suspected of corruption.

The House's internal regulations and code of ethics stipulate that a plenary session can convene an ad hoc disciplinary committee to review alleged violations by legislators. The sanctions provided for consist only of verbal and written cautions.

Responding to the demand for Akbar to step aside, however, Akil Mochtar of Golkar, the second largest faction in the House, took the view that it was red herring.

"I would be more ashamed to be Taufik Kiemas (President Megawati's husband) or Guruh (Megawati's brother), who never attend House meetings. Is that ethical?" Akil asked, insinuating that Taufik and Guruh are frequent absentees from the House.

According to Akil, as there were no provisions governing the issue, there was no need to focus on Akbar's suspension.

Golkar's Syamsul Mu'arif said that he was strongly against Akbar Tandjung being sidelined from his position as House Speaker as Akbar had yet to be found guilty by the court.

"Akbar is a suspect who has been detained. But he has not been found guilty yet. If he is suspended from his role as House speaker now, it will mean we are dealing with a political move, not a legal one," Syamsul told reporters.

Syamsul said that if the court declared Akbar guilty of corruption, it would then be appropriate to remove Akbar from the speakership on the grounds that he had violated his oath of office.

Meanwhile, an anticorruption activist urged legislators on Wednesday to establish an ethics committee to dismiss Akbar from his current position.

Teten Masduki, the coordinator of Indonesian Corruption Watch (ICW), said on Wednesday that the establishment of such a committee was a must as Akbar had been accused of deceiving the public.

"Akbar has been shown to have violated the public servant's code of conduct, and this can't be tolerated," Teten said on the sidelines of an anticorruption workshop held by the ICW here.

House internal regulations

Article 19

(1) The House leadership consists of one speaker and (normally) four deputy speakers so as to reflect the distribution of seats among the factions.

(2) The tenure of House leaders is the same as that of House members.

Article 24

(1) The speaker and deputy speakers swear an oath of office at a plenary session before taking up office.

(2) The oath sworn by the speaker and the deputy speakers reads as follows:

"I swear to almighty God that I will fulfill my obligation as speaker/deputy speaker in a proper and impartial manner; that I will uphold Pancasila as the state ideology, the 1945 Constitution and the prevailing laws; that I will uphold democracy and devote myself to the nation and the Unitary Republic of Indonesia."