Convicted Akbar attends AIPO meet
Convicted Akbar attends AIPO meet
Agence France-Presse, Hanoi
Indonesian parliament speaker Akbar Tandjung was attending an annual meeting of Southeast Asian legislators here on Monday despite his conviction last week on corruption charges.
Akbar, 56, wearing a traditional Indonesian hat or kopiah, took his place among the 350 parliamentarians who gathered in Hanoi for the opening ceremony of the 23rd general assembly of the ASEAN Inter-Parliamentary Organization (AIPO).
Despite being sentenced to three years in prison on Wednesday by a Jakarta district court for misusing some Rp 40 billion (US$4.5 million) in state funds, no travel restrictions were imposed on him.
Akbar, who is also chairman of the former ruling Golkar Party, remains free pending appeal.
When asked whether he thought his participation in the AIPO meeting would devalue its legitimacy, he told AFP: "I do not want to answer questions."
AIPO is made up of the eight states with parliaments from the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations -- Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.
The annual session formally wraps up on Wednesday.
Late last week party elders agreed to maintain Akbar as Golkar chairman, despite mounting calls for him to resign from the top post of the parliament.
Akbar insists he will remain parliamentary speaker and Golkar chairman, saying he was appealing the verdict and until a decision on the appeal was taken, his sentence could not be enforced.
Leading Indonesian legislators have said they would propose the establishment of an honor council to fire Akbar if he refused to resign voluntarily.
The case against him concerns the Indonesian government's decision to allocate funds from the national food agency Bulog to feed poor villagers in 1999, following the 1997-98 regional financial crisis.
Akbar oversaw the program as cabinet secretary. He says he appointed a foundation to arrange the food delivery, which in turn appointed a contractor.
However, there is no evidence any food was ever delivered.
Some local media have alleged the money was diverted into Golkar's election fund.