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.