DPR has done little to eradicate KKN: Mega
DPR has done little to eradicate KKN: Mega
Fabiola Desy Unidjaja, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
President Megawati Soekarnoputri has expressed concern over
the lack of support from the House of Representatives for her
efforts to eradicate corruption, collusion and nepotism in the
country.
Chairman of the Multipurpose Cooperative of Mutual Assistance
(Kosgoro) Hayono Isman said, after meeting Megawati, that she had
complained about the lengthy discussion of many bills to promote
the eradication of corruption.
"The President cited as an example that the long debate over
the money laundering bill indicated that the government lacked
support from the House to stop such practices," Hayono said.
According to Hayono, the President underlined that she only
had two and a half years before the next general election in 2004
to improve the regulations and a system to optimize the
eradication of such practices, which had been the main factor
behind the hardships currently facing the country.
"From the discussion, the President expressed her strong
intention to concentrate on building a better system for the
country and leave the general election in the hands of the
people," Hayono said.
This is the second time that Megawati criticized the House for
its performance as a legislative body in setting regulations for
the country.
In her speech in front of National Resilience Institute
(Lemhannas) course participants last month, she said that the
internal conflicts of interest at the House had slowed down the
reform movement.
At Monday's meeting, Hayono, a former minister during the
presidency of Soeharto, sent a strong message to the President
that the political process should not interfere with legal
processes when investigating corruption cases.
"We support the government's effort to eradicate corruption,
but we consider that politicking in the House should not hamper
the legal process," said Hayono, who leads the organization that
used to be one of the Golkar Party's political instruments.
At present, Golkar Party chairman Akbar Tandjung is facing a
great political challenge as the House consultative body agreed
on Monday to set a schedule to discuss the establishment of a
special committee to investigate a financial scandal involving
the State Logistics Agency (Bulog), in which he has been
implicated.
"The House should concentrate on deliberating the drafts, not
on the establishment of many special committees to investigate a
number of legal cases," he said, even though he refused to admit
that he conveyed the official line of the Golkar party.
When asked what was the President's reaction to his
suggestion, Hayono said, "The President did not say a word about
it."
Anticorruption bills on which the House has still to complete
discussion:
1. Amendment of Law No.39/1999 on corruption;
2. Money laundering bill;
3. Anticorruption commission draft.