Golkar asks legislators to honor replecement deal

Kurniawan Hari, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The Golkar Party's board of executives appealed to party legislators who face mid-term substitutions to soon vacate their posts for their successors for the sake of party unity.

"We ask them to comply with the agreement they have signed," Golkar chairman Akbar Tandjung said on Tuesday, but fell short of revealing punitive measures against the defiant legislators.

Akbar was referring to the 22 Golkar legislators who refused to leave their posts despite their agreement to share their five- year terms with their fellow party members. The mid-term succession is supposed to take effect when the House resumes its sitting period on May 13.

Legislative candidates in many districts reached a deal after the 1999 general elections to share the term of service at the House for the sake of fairness due to the almost identical number of votes each won.

The last election adopted a combined electoral system of district and proportional, which resulted in confusion when a party was to choose who deserved the legislative seats.

Many candidates topped the votes in their respective districts and thus were eligible for the House seat according to the district system. But in some cases their votes were lower in percentage than their colleagues from other districts, who therefore claimed the right for the House seat in accordance with the proportional system.

One of the Golkar legislators, Ibrahim Ambong, admitted on Tuesday that he had verbally approved the seat-sharing deal, but denied that he had signed the agreement.

"I will simply follow the decision of the central executive board," said Ambong, who chairs House Commission I for security and political affairs.

Achmad Arief, Hatta Taliwang and St. Ambia B. Boestam of the National Mandate Party (PAN) are three of the other legislators who signed the deal, but have so far remained reluctant to pack their bags.

PAN deputy chairman Afni Achmad said on Tuesday that the executive board had left the matter to PAN chairman Amien Rais.

The Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan) and the National Awakening Party (PKB) also faced similar problems, but both could settle it following interventions by PDI Perjuangan chairwoman Megawati Soekarnoputri and the PKB's Muslim clerics.