DPR and MPR session

DPR and MPR session

From Republika

Recent rumors had it that People's Consultative Assembly (MPR)
Speaker Amien Rais and House of Representatives (DPR) Speaker
Akbar Tandjung secretly agreed to change the General Session of
the MPR into a special session in order to unseat Abdurrahman
"Gus Dur" Wahid from office. Later, a number of political forces,
mass movements and NGOs also voiced a desire to unseat Gus Dur.
However, both Amien and Akbar have denied the rumors despite
their outspokenness concerning Gus Dur.

Procedurally, it is impossible to convene a special session of
the MPR in August 2000 because to turn the annual session into a
special one is both procedurally and temporally impossible.
Stipulation of MPR No. III/MPR/1978 states that an MPR special
session can be convened at the request of the DPR in order to ask
for the accountability (including, if necessary, the impeachment
or dismissal) of the president if he violates the Constitution or
the state's course.

Before proposing the convening of an MPR special session, the
DPR must first have conclusive evidence that the President has
violated the Constitution and the state's course. If these two
requirements are fulfilled, the DPR then issues its first
memorandum. If after the first memorandum the President continues
to violate the Constitution and/or the state's course, it issues
a second memorandum. Then, if a month after the second memorandum
the President continues to violate the Constitution and/or the
state's course, the DPR reserves the right to propose to the MPR
that a special session be convened for the purpose of asking for
the President's accountability report and if necessary
discharging him from office.

The intervals related to the memorandums is four months while
the sessions of the DPR to come to an agreement for the issuance
of the memorandums will take quite a while, especially if in
these DPR sessions the President must first be summoned. So, is
it possible for the MPR to convene a special session in August
2000?

I don't think the DPR can conclude today that Gus Dur has
violated the Constitution and the state's course because what Gus
Dur has taken issue with refers only to controversial statements
and not government policies or decisions.

What is of utmost importance and greatest urgency now is
correction of Gus Dur's Cabinet to ensure that it will quickly
complete its most important assignment of bringing about economic
recovery and putting a stop to upheavals related to the threat of
national disintegration. A change of president is no guarantee
that Indonesia's recovery will be plain sailing.

I. SOEDJUDI

Jakarta