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)