Decision on Bambang postponed

Decision on Bambang postponed

JAKARTA (JP): House Speaker Wahono, defying speculation that he would buckle under Golkar pressure, decided yesterday to postpone a decision on expelling legislator Bambang Warih Koesoemo until next week.

After leading a three-hour meeting between the leaders of the House of Representatives (DPR), Wahono decided he and his deputies needed more time and "input" before making a decision.

Deputy house speaker Soetedjo, from the Armed Forces (ABRI) faction, was chosen to meet with reporters on Wahono's behalf and denied suggestions that they were stalling.

"Insya Allah (God willing), we will discuss the matter again in the DPR leadership meeting next week," he said.

According to Soetedjo, Wahono spent most of his time in the meeting explaining the chronology of events leading to the Golkar executive board's proposal to have Bambang removed from the DPR.

However, they would need "more input" before bringing the proposal to President Soeharto for final approval, Soetedjo said.

On Monday, Golkar deputy chairman Agung Laksono felt strongly that Wahono, a Golkar member, would eventually make a ruling in Golkar's favor.

Soetedjo firmly stated yesterday, however, that Golkar's reasons for dismissing Bambang, including his purported misconduct during hearings with cabinet ministers, were not adequate for DPR leaders to issue a ruling.

"We still need to hear from various parties before we can decide whether to endorse Golkar's proposal," he said.

Soetedjo described the meeting, held behind closed doors, as barely touching on the substance of the issue.

"We haven't really discussed the case, we only listened to the House Speaker's explanation about how he received two letters from Golkar," Soetedjo said.

The first letter was Golkar's proposal to have Bambang Warih Koesoemo removed from the DPR, while the second was addressed to President Soeharto, requesting his approval. Under the existing House statutes, Wahono can nullify the proposal by withholding the letter addressed to President Soeharto.

The meeting apparently took three hours because the DPR leaders were discussing many other things apart from Bambang's dismissal.

"We are not stalling. We haven't discussed calling Bambang to hear from him directly," Soetedjo said.

However, Soetedjo promised that the DPR leaders would do their best to issue a ruling on the case as soon as possible. "We don't want to see public debate grow" uncontrollably, he said.

Bambang, a long-serving Golkar member known for his outspokenness, grabbed media attention last year when he disclosed a major bad-loan scandal involving one of Golkar's donors.

Two weeks ago, Golkar's executive board announced that it was firing Bambang from his legislative posts for various acts of misconduct, including his supposedly offensive way of dealing with government officials during his hearings.

Bambang, for instance, was considered guilty of demanding that Minister of Manpower Abdul Latief resign from his job, something Golkar considered a gross violation since "hiring and firing ministers is the President's prerogative".

Bambang was also said to be guilty of offending Minister of Finance Mar'ie Muhammad in such a way that the offense could not even be made public.

Bambang flatly denied all accusations leveled against him, saying that they were all "one big slander" and that his leaders' proposal to have him removed was "a political maneuver". He then established a team of eight lawyers to take up his case should he decide to sue the grouping's leaders. (swe)