Golkar exposes sins of discharged legislator
Golkar exposes sins of discharged legislator
JAKARTA (JP): Leaders of the ruling Golkar party declared their reasons for firing Bambang Warih Koesoemo, a legislator well known for his whistle-blowing practices.
Bambang was removed from the House of Representatives (DPR) on Wednesday because of misconduct and for "lacking manners" when dealing with cabinet ministers, said deputy chairman Abdul Gafur and vice secretary-general Moestahid Astari, who is also chairman of the Golkar faction in the DPR.
Moestahid and Gafur came up with a list of incidents which they said were proof of Bambang's poor discipline and habit of deviating from official party lines.
Moestahid said that on one occasion Bambang overstepped his bounds by unreasonably asking "that the Minister of Manpower resign".
"This is a violation of (party) principle because installing and discharging ministers is the President's prerogative," Moestahid said.
According to Moestahid, Bambang had also once said to Minister of Industry Tunky Aribowo that he appeared not "as a minister but more as a businessman".
In addition, Moestahid said, Bambang accused the ministry of public works of "wasting state money" and for "offending" Minister of Finance Mar'ie Muhammad in such a way that could not be described in public.
Moestahid said Golkar leaders have examined Bambang for the last two years and have attempted to "guide" him. "I think we have tried to guide him more than once, especially concerning his activities both as a DPR member and outside of the DPR," he said.
"We've been watching his actions, his press statements and other activities," Moestahid said. "There are ethics and good manners which need to be displayed when Golkar-faction members hold meetings with their counterparts."
Approach
Moestahid also said that he had once personally approached Bambang and given him an opportunity to correct his conduct.
The vice secretary-general said that the executive board's examination of its members' conducts will not stop with Bambang. "Everything is evaluated in accordance with certain standards and is all done objectively," he said.
Moestahid rejected the suggestions that Bambang was fired because of his daring disclosure of a bad-debt scandal involving the Kanindo group of companies owned by Robby Tjahjadi, one of Golkar's donors.
"The violations he committed accumulated over the last two years...there have been attempts to correct him, but we all know how Bambang is," Moestahid said in a state of agitation.
He refused to verify rumors that Bambang would not be the only Golkar member withdrawn from DPR. "It all depends on whether the members are capable of adapting to the party's policies," he said.
Chided
Bambang, however, chided the accusations leveled against him. "It's all one big slander," he told reporters who met him outside of his hearings with the state-budget commission at DPR.
Bambang accused Golkar leaders of hastily compiling a collection of press clippings to support their allegations of misconduct instead of utilizing actual recordings and minutes from his hearings.
"I never asked the Minister of Manpower to resign," he said harshly. He recounted that at the time of the hearing with the minister there had been many reports of abuse and levies illegally imposed by manpower supplier companies on Indonesian workers abroad.
"I told the minister that if he had not resolved the problem within a year then he would be in violation of the oath he had taken when appointed minister," Bambang said.
Bambang rejected the rest of the list's accusations, saying that he met with Mar'ie Muhammad in a personal capacity instead of as a legislator meeting a minister. In his defense he added that he never accused the ministry of public works as wasting the state's money.
"The Golkar faction is crazy if they used those allegations as grounds for my dismissal," he said. "This (dismissal) is either a political maneuver or a pure misunderstanding."
"There's still a chance that I won't be withdrawn after all," he said, but should it happen, "I can sue them."
Political observer Arbi Sanit cautioned that the two minority parties, the United Development Party (PPP) and the Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI), might be "inspired" to do the same thing with their outspoken members.
"PPP and PDI may go as far as discharging their members... because they have seen Golkar do it," he told the Antara news agency. (swe)