Akbar urged to heed virtue and quit post as speaker

Akbar urged to heed virtue and quit post as speaker

Nana Rukmana and Kurniawan Hari, The Jakarta Post, Cirebon/Jakarta

The move to clip House of Representatives Speaker Akbar
Tandjung's wings has taken a new turn following a Jakarta High
Court verdict against him with at least 75 legislators demanding
his suspension.

Deputy House Speaker Muhaimin Iskandar said over the weekend
more legislators looked like following suit and the effort to
sideline Akbar would depend solely on how significant was the
vote of no-confidence against Akbar.

"There is no ruling that can force Akbar to stay out of office
except the will of the majority in the House," Muhaimin said on
the sidelines of an anniversary celebration of his National
Awakening Party in Cirebon, West Java.

Akbar was elected House speaker by a majority vote in 1999 and
survived the post despite mounting pressure dating back to early
last year when the Attorney General's Office named him a suspect
in a graft case involving a State Logistics Agency fund.

The Central Jakarta District Court found him guilty and
sentenced him to three years in prison last September. The
Jakarta High Court upheld the verdict on Friday, but, like the
lower court, failed to order Golkar Party chairman Akbar to serve
his prison term.

Analysts predicted the higher court verdict would prevent him
from running for president in 2004.

Calls have been mounting for Akbar to relinquish his position
in an effort to restore the tainted image of the legislature.

Legislators say Akbar's resignation from the House would
benefit both the legislative body and Akbar himself.

Meanwhile, the verdict has worsened friction among leaders of
the Golkar Party, the nation's second largest party after the
Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan) under
President Megawati Soekarnoputri.

Many Golkar leaders have urged Akbar to give up his posts as
Golkar chairman and House Speaker, but Akbar's supporters jumped
to the defense of their leader.

Ahmad Farhan Hamid and Sutradara Gintings who chair the Reform
faction and Indonesian Nationhood faction respectively at the
House suggested on Saturday that Akbar step down.

"The district court and the high court have found Akbar
guilty. It is Pak Akbar's moral responsibility to quit," Farhan
told The Jakarta Post on Saturday.

He added that if Akbar kept his position, it would shatter the
already-tainted image of the House.

Sutradara meanwhile offered another solution, suggesting that
Akbar suspend his official duties while focusing on the legal
process.

He criticized many legislators who rejected a proposal to form
a committee of inquiry into Akbar's case, saying that the
rejection had hampered the House from making a recommendation on
Akbar's fate.

Satjipto Rahardjo, a legal expert at Diponegoro University in
Semarang suggested that the House take action to revise Akbar's
position as House Speaker.

He acknowledged that his request was based on moral virtue
rather than legal principle.

"If we still have moral principles, we would not accept that
the prestigious legislative body is headed by a convict,"
Satjipto added.

Separately, Golkar's cochairman Fahmi Idris revealed that
friction had worsened among party's leaders.

One group is of the opinion that the verdict by the High Court
is not the end of the legal process, therefore Akbar's position
as chairman of the party and House speaker must not be
questioned.

Another group say that the decision is final and urge the
dismissal of Akbar. "We will discuss that issue at a leadership
meeting scheduled for February," said Fahmi who admitted that he
was among those demanding that Akbar resign.

Fahmi added that during the leadership meeting in February his
group would call for a party congress to discuss, among other
things, revisions to the party's platform and agenda, as well as
the replacement of Akbar.