Edy says Council's plenary session legitimate

JAKARTA (JP): City Council Speaker Edy Waluyo defended on Wednesday the way he presided over the Dec. 30 plenary session which endorsed the city draft budget, saying he just followed the wishes of the floor.

"All the decisions (in the meeting) were not of my desire, as I merely executed what the forum had approved based on the rules. The approval of the draft budget is everyone's responsibility," Edy told a press meeting.

He insisted that the session fulfilled the quorum, as the council's secretariat reported that 47 councilors were present in the session.

"It is each one's right to have a different opinion, or even disagree with the decision. But they must accept and support the council's endorsement of the budget," he said.

Edy was responding to the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan) faction's demand for him to resign as the speaker over alleged rule violations.

All 19 PDI Perjuangan councilors attending walked out of the session, in which the council passed the Rp 7.49 trillion (US$788.42 million) budget proposal for 2001.

According to the faction, Edy failed to heed the faction's request to delay the meeting until mid-January from its original schedule of Dec. 22 because of the lack of time to review the proposed budget.

When asked about the secret vote which resulted in the plenary session being rescheduled for Dec. 30, Edy said that most of the councilors had agreed to the proposed timetable beforehand.

"Most councilors acknowledged the problem resulted from the necessity to endorse the 2001 budget before January," he added.

PDI Perjuangan claimed earlier that it sent an official letter of request asking for a delay to the session, but it lost in the vote.

"I had also offered a break during the Saturday session, as requested by the PDI Perjuangan, but the forum turned it down, which was followed by the walk out of the faction members," Edy said.

Currently there are 84 councilors from 11 factions. PDI Perjuangan has the most representatives in the council with 30, followed by the United Development Party (PPP) and the National Mandate Party (PAN) with 13 seats each.

Edy said he had arranged to allow every faction to reveal their decision on the draft budget first, then continued to deliberate the issue until the forum reached an unanimous decision.

When asked about the decision of the draft city budget from PDI Perjuangan faction, scheduled to be announced on Jan. 8, Edy said the council would look into the issue first.

"Nevertheless, the decision has been approved by the forum. But the council can make revisions (on the decision) if there are concrete facts supporting it," Edy added.

He admitted that the City Council's internal rules had yet to cover such a clause, but the overall changes to the rule would be discussed separately.

Councilor Abdul Azis Matnur from the Justice Party (PK) shared a similar opinion to Edy, saying that PDI Perjuangan should consider the public services which may be hindered due to the delay in the draft budget.

"PAN faction, which also submitted an official request for a delay along with PDI Perjuangan, could accept the speaker's decision and finally approve the draft, while making note of certain differences of opinion. It's also about moral responsibility," Abdul added. (07)