Assembly likely to vote on Habibie's accountability report

Assembly likely to vote on Habibie's accountability report

JAKARTA (JP): A vote by members of the People's Consultative
Assembly will settle the issue of whether President B.J. Habibie
clears the first hurdle in his bid for a new term.

As his term draws to a close, Habibie has been under almost
constant fire, including from within his own Golkar Party, and
must convince the 700-member People's Consultative Assembly (MPR)
on Thursday of the benefits of his 16-month tenure.

Assembly Speaker Amien Rais said on Wednesday he approved the
need for a vote, but only as a last resort to decide the MPR's
stance on the President's speech.

Sabam Sirait of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle
(PDI Perjuangan), Aisyah Amini of the United Development Party
(PPP), and Alwi Shihab of the National Awakening Party (PKB)
concurred, but suggested that the MPR factions deliberate the
speech and seek a consensus on the matter.

"Voting will be the most appropriate manner if the MPR is
split on whether to accept the speech," said Sabam, who chairs
the Assembly Ad Hoc Committee II in charge of deliberation of
draft decrees other than the State Policy Guidelines.

The Assembly last turned down an accountability speech
delivered in 1968 by founding president Sukarno. It was a move
that effectively dethroned him after 23 years in power.

Under the New Order, the Assembly unanimously accepted every
accountability report presented by Soeharto. Before Soeharto
stepped down in May last year, the same Assembly elected Soeharto
to the nation's top job for six consecutive terms.

Aisyah said voting on Habibie's speech appeared to be
unavoidable because the MPR was split between pro and anti-
Habibie camps. "A vote is the only way to determine the MPR's
final decision," she said.

Aisyah said all Assembly members should be able to understand
the indicators necessary to judge the speech and that she was
optimistic that Assembly members would make an objective
assessment of the speech.

"MPR decrees endorsed during the extraordinary session last
year will serve as our guidelines to judge Pak Habibie.
Acceptance of his speech will depend on whether he complies with
those decrees."

PKB deputy chairman Alwi Shihab said that voting was the
fairest method of appraising Habibie's performance.

"I agree with that (voting), but this is my personal wish. I
think this is a democratic practice Indonesian people must
encourage," he said.

Meanwhile, law expert Muchsan from Yogyakarta's Gadjah Mada
University opposed the voting method as a way of evaluating the
President's accountability report.

He said that in addition to the mechanism's vulnerability to
money politics, voting was not characteristic of Indonesian
people.

He said that to ensure a fair evaluation, Assembly members
must appraise the speech from a political, legal and ethical
perspective.

The Ad Hoc Commission II endorsed on Wednesday a new practice
which obliges the president to attend a plenary MPR session to
hear a response from the various factions to his or her
accountability speech.

"The MPR decree issued last year stipulates that it's
compulsory for the president to be present and listen to the
responses," committee chairman Sabam said.

He acknowledged that the decree did not rule on disciplining
the incumbent for failing to attend the session, but said the
president might be allowed to skip the session for health
reasons.

All 11 factions in the MPR are scheduled to present their
responses to the speech on Friday and Saturday. (02/44/emf)