Bamus fails to hold first meeting

Bamus fails to hold first meeting

JAKARTA: The House of Representatives steering committee
(Bamus) failed to hold its first meeting on Thursday after most
of its members did not show up.

Only 18 of the 76 Bamus members showed up for the meeting,
arranged to determine the date on which President Megawati
Soekarnoputri was due to explain the loss of Sipadan and Ligitan
islands to Malaysia in December last year.

The Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan)
faction, which controls Bamus, was conspicuously absent, as only
four of its 22 representatives turned up.

Most PDI Perjuangan legislators consider the Sipadan-Ligitan
issue to be over. PDI Perjuangan is led by Megawati
Soekarnoputri, who is also the President.

Deputy House speaker Tosari Widjaja, who was supposed to lead
the meeting, declined to speculate on the poor attendance, saying
that it was due to lack of discipline among lawmakers. --JP