Akbar's fate to be decided at plenary House session

Kurniawan Hari, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

After a series of debates and delays, the steering committee of the House of Representatives agreed on Thursday to bring a no- confidence motion against Speaker Akbar Tandjung back to the House Plenary meeting on Feb. 27.

However, the hopes for Akbar, who was sentenced to three years in jail for corruption by both the Central Jakarta district court and Jakarta High Court, to be removed from his seat is slim as most legislators have seemingly lost interest in Akbar's crimes.

But, even if the legislators agreed to bring Akbar's case back to the House plenary meeting, they still have different opinions on how the nine factions would deal with the motion.

Deputy House speaker Soetardjo Soerjogoeritno, who presided over the steering committee meeting, said that the meeting had agreed to bring up the issue again on Akbar's dismissal at the plenary meeting.

He added that all factions would be given an opportunity to present their stance on the issue.

Legislators Imam Munjiat and Tahir Saimima, from the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan) and United Development Party (PPP) respectively, said that each faction would be given an opportunity to present their stance on the issue before they voted on whether or not to suspend Akbar, who is also chairman of Golkar, the second biggest faction in the House.

"The whole process -- the debates and delays -- will be reported at the plenary meeting, which will then decide (whether to continue the case or kill it)," Imam said after the steering committee's meeting.

Tahir added that the plenary meeting would have authority to make any decision.

But Golkar legislators Marzuki Achmad and Yahya Zaini said that the plenary meeting would only hear a recommendation from House leaders that there was no legal basis to proceed with the motion.

The petition was submitted to the House in October last year after the Central Jakarta district court declared Akbar guilty of corruption and sentenced him to three years in jail for his role in a Rp 40 billion financial scandal involving the State Logistics Agency (Bulog).

Although it won the support of 68 inter-faction legislators, a House plenary meeting failed to reach an agreement on the issue and decided to send it back to the steering committee to decide.

The steering committee could not reach an agreement on the petition and referred the case to House leaders. A meeting of the House leaders made the recommendation not to continue the proposal, claiming that there were no specific regulations to unseat a convicted corruptor who is also a House leader.

None of the nine factions in the House have ever officially called on Akbar to resign.

The House failed last year to form a committee of inquiry into Akbar's involvement in the graft case, apparently because of political deal among PDI Perjuangan, Golkar and PKB.

Legislator Ria Latifa, the main proponent of the motion, had expressed pessimism over the move and had started collecting signatories in support of the establishment of an honorary council to determine whether or not Akbar was still eligible to lead the House.

Her second maneuver has so far won the support of 70 legislators.