Golkar looking for options to impeachment

Golkar looking for options to impeachment

JAKARTA (JP): Golkar Party will propose a delegation of power
from the President to the Vice President during the planned
meeting between major political parties, Golkar chairman Akbar
Tandjung said on Friday.

Akbar said that Golkar, runner-up to the Indonesian Democratic
Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan) in the 1999 elections, opted
to seek alternatives other than ousting the President.

"I will bring up the idea in the meeting and we would like to
wait and see how other political parties respond to the idea,"
Akbar, who is also the House of Representatives Speaker, said as
quoted by Antara.

When asked whether the meeting between political parties would
focus on efforts to put more pressure on the President to resign,
Akbar replied: "No, ... it would not go that way."

Akbar contended that currently, delegation of power from
President Abdurrahman "Gus Dur" Wahid to Vice President Megawati
Soekarnoputri was the most probable solution to the protracted
political deadlock. It could also strengthen the People's
Consultative Assembly (MPR) decree on power sharing issued last
year.

With pressures escalating for Abdurrahman to step down after
he was rebuked for the second time by the House, Megawati's PDI
Perjuangan offered a meeting with its past rivals to discuss
steps to be taken against the President after the censure.

The initiative was well received, although its date and
official agenda remain undecided.

Speculation is rife that the meeting will confirm support for
Megawati to run the government until 2004.

Abdurrahman has until May 30 to answer the House's censure. If
his response is considered unsatisfactory, the House will call
for an MPR special session to impeach the President.

Separately, PDI Perjuangan secretary-general Sutjipto said
that should Megawati become president, it was the course she had
to follow rather than her own ambition.

"What I know is from the beginning Mbak Mega had no ambition
for the presidency. Being the Vice President, she has to be
prepared to take over (from Abdurrahman)," Sutjipto said after
the party's internal meeting.

PDI Perjuangan set its target of winning the presidency prior
to the 1999 elections in which it finished first. Megawati's
presidential bid came a cropper due to her party's failure to win
the majority vote.

Megawati presided over the party's meeting on Friday although
originally she was not scheduled to turn up for the event.

The chairwoman of the country's largest party arrived in a
Mitsubishi Pajero without the usual line of vice presidential
security guards, who only reached the place 10 minutes later.

Commenting on the planned meeting between seven political
parties to discuss measures to follow the House's second censure
against Abdurrahman, Sutjipto said that PDI Perjuangan had yet to
set any agenda or specific date.

"We will discuss the matter further internally, as the
chairwoman has asked us to keep an eye on how things develop
after the second censure," he said.

He further underlined that all chiefs of the parties,
including Abdurrahman's National Awakening Party, would be
invited.

Political observer Rubiyanto Misman expressed his support for
Cabinet reshuffle as an effort to avoid Gus Dur's impeachment
that "would be too costly".

He insisted that both PDI Perjuangan and Golkar deserved
bigger concessions as they had won the most House seats.

"A major Cabinet reshuffle should give the two parties the
most posts and if necessary remove all Gus Dur's men," Rubiyanto,
who is the rector of state Jendral Sudirman University in
Purwokerto, said. (45/dja)