BP MPR to be clean of ministers

BP MPR to be clean of ministers

JAKARTA (JP): Golkar chairman Akbar Tandjung confirmed on
Tuesday that a number of cabinet ministers from the ruling
political organization would be removed from the Working
Committee of the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR).

Akbar, however, said the ministers would retain their
positions in Golkar's faction in the Assembly.

"Golkar's Cabinet ministers will be removed from the
Assembly's working committee, but they will remain members of
Golkar's Assembly faction," he said as quoted by Antara after a
plenary meeting of the committee on Tuesday.

Another member of the Golkar faction, Agung Laksono, who is
also State Minister of Youth Affairs and Sports, confirmed that
five cabinet ministers from Golkar would be removed from the
committee.

They are Minister of Manpower Fahmi Idris, State Minister of
Public Housing Theo L. Sambuaga, Minister of Cooperatives and
Small Enterprises Adi Sasono, Coordinating Minister for Economy,
Finance and Industry Ginandjar Kartasasmita and Agung himself.

Akbar said with the removal, the ministers were being relieved
of the responsibilities so they could concentrate on their
executive duties.

He said it was not against the law for ministers to serve on
the MPR but acknowledged there was a strong conflict of interest
between the two jobs.

Earlier this week, two ministers from the United Development
Party (PPP), State Minister of Food A.M. Saefuddin and State
Minister of Investment Hamzah Haz, announced their resignation
from the Assembly's Working Committee.

On Sunday, Saefuddin said that as members of the MPR, the
country's highest body, they were actually superior to the
President, while their executive positions as ministers meant
they were inferior to the President.

Agung said the Golkar ministers would be replaced by
businessman Edwin Kawilarang, political observer Salim Said,
economist Didik J. Rachbini, social and political observer Fachry
Ali and former student activist Hariman Siregar.

Businessman Aburizal Bakrie will also be removed from the
committee. He will be replaced by Adi Putra Taher, who is also a
businessman.

In another development, Akbar said the post of deputy chairman
of Golkar's MPR faction would be transferred from Abdul Latief to
Marzuki Darusman. Latief is a former minister of manpower, while
Marzuki is deputy chairman of the National Commission on Human
Rights.

Drafts

At the committee's plenary meeting on Tuesday, the Golkar
faction decided that it would be ready to discuss a draft MPR
decree requesting that former president Soeharto be brought
before the Assembly to deliver an accountability speech of his
most recent term in the presidency.

"The Golkar faction will not submit a draft on former
president Soeharto's accountability speech, but will be ready to
discuss the issue if any such proposal is made by the other
factions," Theo L. Sambuaga, the secretary of Golkar's faction in
the Assembly, said.

However, the Armed Forces (ABRI) faction dismissed the
possibility of raising the issue in the Assembly's special
session scheduled for November this year.

"Constitutionally, the state handover of the presidency from
Soeharto to B.J. Habibie was valid," the spokesman for the ABRI
faction, Lt. Gen. Achmad Roestandi, said on Tuesday.

"Should a decree requiring an accountability speech from
Soeharto be passed, it could have two possible impacts on the
former president," he said. "If his speech is accepted, Soeharto
would regain the presidency. If it is rejected it would only mean
the Assembly would dismiss a president who has already resigned."
He suggested that any demands for legal action against Soeharto
should be discussed outside the forum of the Assembly.

The United Development Party (PPP) faction said on Monday that
it would submit a draft decree on the investigation into
Soeharto's wealth to the Assembly's Working Committee.

Theo said the Golkar faction would submit 12 drafts MPR
decrees to the committee.

Among the submissions will be draft decrees on the Assembly's
internal regulations, general elections, the revocation of 1998
decrees on the 1998/2003 State Policy Guidelines and the State
Policy Guidelines on National Development Reforms.

Golkar will also submit draft decrees on referenda, a
limitation to the presidential and vice presidential terms in
office, the revocation of the 1998 decree granting special powers
to the president, human rights, clean and credible governance,
and the agenda for the Assembly's extraordinary session.

However, Theo said his faction would not bring the vice
presidential election onto the agenda for the special session.

Separately, the chairman of the Assembly's Working Committee,
Poedjono Pranyoto, confirmed the Golkar faction had submitted 12
draft MPR decrees. He also said the PPP faction had submitted 11
draft decrees and the Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI) faction
had submitted 16. (imn)