Bill needed for President, VP coordination
Kurniawan Hari, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The National Awakening Party (PKB) faction in the House of Representatives criticized the government of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono for poor coordination among his administration officials.
The faction demanded that the House and the government start deliberating on the presidency bill to prevent a rivalry between the President and Vice President Jusuf Kalla.
"Our faction will push for deliberation of the presidency bill," PKB faction secretary Helmy Faishal Zaini said during a press conference to announce the faction's evaluation of the first 100 days of the government here on Monday.
The House and the government have been engaged in drawn out discussions dealing with which bills would be put on the priority list this year. Legislators said that approximately 50 bills would be prioritized for the next 11 months.
Helmy gave two examples of poor coordination among the government officials, both of which involved Vice President Jusuf Kalla.
The first example is the issuance of a circular by Prijono Tjiptoherijanto, secretary of the vice presidential office. In the circular intended for Cabinet ministers and heads of state institutions, Prijono said that the circular was based on the vice president's briefing.
The circular implied that hearings with the House were not important and its deliberations a waste of time. The circular has prompted irate legislators to summon the President for an explanation.
The second example is the issuance of a "vice presidential decree" on the establishment of a national team for disaster mitigation in Aceh. (Under the country's state administration system, only the President has the right to issue a decree).
"The issuance of the circular and the decree clearly show that the vice president has carried out actions beyond his authority," Helmy added.
Concerning government policies in corruption eradication, the PKB faction hailed the measures taken by the government in dealing with graft cases involving councillors in several regions.
"However, it is regrettable that only a few of the big corruption cases have been taken on so far," Helmy added.
Data from the Indonesian Corruption Watch (ICW) says that the Attorney General's Office had in 2004 terminated the investigation into 40 graft cases, 12 of which related to the Bank Indonesia Liquidity Support (BLBI), which centers on the disbursement of billions of dollars worth of funds to ailing banks in the wake of the late 1990s financial crisis.
The PKB faction also criticized poor coordination among the law enforcers: the National Police, the Attorney General's Office, and the Corruption Eradication Commission.
Separately, spokesman of the State Audit Agency (BPK) Baharuddin Aritonang also criticized the government for showing no intention to cooperate with the agency in dealing with corruption eradication.
"Corruption eradication requires coordination among state institutions. The government should not ignore other state agencies," Aritonang added.