Golkar and PPP in barter deal on commission chiefs

JAKARTA (JP): Golkar and the United Development Party (PPP) will likely barter for the chairmanship of the City Council's Commission C on financial affairs, which was held by PPP for several office terms.

Chairman of PPP, Achmad Suaidy, said yesterday that his party agreed to hand over Commission C as long as secretary positions of two Golkar commissions were filled by PPP councilors.

"If Golkar wants to chair Commission C, it's fine. But Golkar should allow two PPP councilors to become secretaries of two of the three commissions it will chair," Suaidy said.

Besides Commission C, Golkar also proposed to chair Commission D on development affairs and Commission E on economic affairs. The three commissions were considered the most influential commissions of the council.

Suaidy insisted that his party's decision was not a compromise with Golkar.

"We don't compromise. If Golkar agrees to let our councilors become secretaries of their two commissions, we'll let them chair Commission C," Achmad said.

He was optimistic that Golkar would not refuse PPP's proposal. "I know Golkar will agree with it," Achmad said.

He said the Armed Forces (ABRI) faction, which would chair Commission A on administrative affairs, has also agreed with the peaceful offer by PPP, which will chair Commission B on economic affairs.

On Tuesday, PPP was still determined to chair Commission C even though Golkar proposed to take over the commission.

Golkar also took two of three deputy council speaker seats after the other three council factions, ABRI, PPP and the Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI), compromised with Golkar.

However, the day before the council speaker and deputy speakers were chosen on Tuesday, the three factions still opposed Golkar's proposal. They said there should be only two deputy speakers serving during the 1997-2002 office term, following PDI's poor results in the general election in which it only got one representative.

In the previous term, PPP, Golkar and PDI were each represented by one deputy speaker.

Yesterday, PPP councilor Djafar Badjeber urged the council to set aside the deputy chairman seat of Commission D on development affairs for Lukman F. Mokoginta of PDI.

"This is a democratic country with three political parties, so why don't we show our appreciation by letting him be the commission's deputy chairman," he said.

Out of the 75 City Council members, 39 are from Golkar, 20 from PPP, 15 from ABRI and one from PDI. (ste)