Amien, President resolve differences

JAKARTA (JP): People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) Speaker Amien Rais claimed that he and President Abdurrahman Wahid buried the hatchet while promising to remain critical of each other.

"Even before it was suggested to me to have a dialog with the President, I already had a long conversation with him. However, it was done without the knowledge of the media," Amien Rais said on Thursday.

Amien said that he telephoned Gus Dur to resolve their differences.

"We agreed to correct and criticize each other as an exercise of democracy," Amien said.

Abdurrahman, during his recent overseas trip, rebuffed critics of Amien who said Amien would not hesitate to 'pinch' the President's ear should the government veer off track in its policies.

Furthermore, Amien suggested an Assembly special session could be held to seek Abdurrahman's accountability following his intention to scrap the 34-year-old ban on communist teaching endorsed by the Assembly when it was a provisional body in 1966.

Amien, a prominent reform leader, later rectified his statement, saying that a special session would not be scheduled to take place when 700 MPR members convene in August.

"It is not necessary to hold a special session, ...the upcoming general assembly in August is a more respected forum," he said.

The widely publicized polemic between Abdurrahman and Amien has drawn concern.

House of Representatives (DPR) Speaker and Golkar Party chairman Akbar Tandjung suggested that the two meet for talks to put the issue to rest.

Amien played down a plan by the National Awakening Party (PKB) to throw a vote of nonconfidence against him, calling it "a mission impossible".

"I thought PKB was joking," he said.

Earlier PKB, the party founded by Abdurrahman, suggested the replacement of Amien because his statements on the Assembly special session.

The party also linked Amien with the radical Muslim movement Laskar Jihad that reportedly intended to wage a holy war in Maluku.

Akbar reiterated on Thursday that Golkar would not support the idea of holding a special MPR session.

"Golkar will never take the initiative of asking for a special session because there are no adequate reasons for doing so. Such a session is only possible if the President violates the Constitution, MPR decrees or the state policy guidelines," Akbar said.

Akbar was in the Central Java town of Surakarta to attend a ceremony that marked the opening of the Golkar branch office in Surakarta.

The office had been destroyed by a fire during riots after the presidential elections in October.

In Banda Aceh, the capital of Aceh, chairman of the United Development Party (PPP) Hamzah Haz also joined the chorus of opposition against a special MPR session.

"I think there is no urgency to hold such a session. There is already a general session, an open forum to hear the President's accountability speech," Hamzah Haz said at the Iskandar Muda airport upon leaving Aceh on Thursday.

Like Akbar, Hamzah said President Abdurrahman did nothing wrong in upholding the Constitution.

Abdurrahman replaced Hamzah as the coordinating minister for people's welfare only after one month of service last year. (44/50/edt/dja)