Amien, President resolve differences

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)