Akbar's fate to be decided at plenary House session

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.