Gus Dur censured over scandals

JAKARTA (JP): The House of Representatives censured President Abdurrahman Wahid on Thursday for his alleged involvement in two financial scandals and agreed to issue a memorandum, which could be a precursor to an impeachment process against the embattled President.

Following a late night plenary session, the House found the President guilty of violating both his oath of office, as under Article 9 of the 1945 Constitution, and People's Consultative Assembly Decree No. XI/1998 on the execution of a clean government, free of corruption, collusion and nepotism.

The House, which was unanimous in its decision, recommended that legal proceedings be conducted to follow up suspicions of legal violations in relation to the State Logistics Agency (Bulog) and Brunei scandals.

However, it is unclear how legal proceedings would commence.

The final report of the plenary session, as read out by the session's chair Soetardjo Soerjogoeritno of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan), said that a memorandum would be promptly submitted to the President "to remind him that he violated" state guidelines, namely the oath of office and the Assembly decree.

The late night session, while it lasted less than 10 minutes, was laden with political intrigue. It was postponed for more than an hour as House factions conducted intensive lobbying among themselves.

The National Awakening Party faction and its 30 members walked out of the proceedings in the afternoon after the House voted overwhelmingly by a vote of 393 to four to accept the special committee's report on the two scandals allegedly involving the President.

The four registered rejections in the vote came from the Love the Nation Democratic Party (PDKB) faction.

The special committee report concluded that Abdurrahman allegedly played a role in the withdrawal and disbursement of Rp 35 billion from a Bulog foundation and that the President had been inconsistent in explaining the US$2 million donation he received from the sultan of Brunei.

After the report was accepted the House was left with three options: the issuance of a memorandum or warning, withdrawal of political support for the President or a special session.

PDI Perjuangan, Golkar and Ummat Sovereignty Party (PDU) factions called on the House to first issue a memorandum which would recommend that the President fight corruption and correct government management.

The United Development Party (PPP) faction demanded the House call for a special session to impeach the President, while the Reform faction recommended the withdrawal of political support for the government with the hope that the President would resign.

Waning

House Speaker Akbar Tandjung later told journalists that he expected the memorandum to be completed within the next two days. However, he could not say the exact mechanism for it, whether it would be submitted to the President directly by the House speaker or by the secretary-general.

The President is given three months to respond. If unheeded the House can issue a second memorandum to which the President has 30 days to respond.

If the second memorandum is also unheeded the House can call on the Assembly to convene a special session.

Akbar stressed that the President had the right to clarify the findings of the special committee. "But if he doesn't then it could be assumed that he really committed violations, and that is what he would be held accountable for in a special session."

Akbar also said that the result of the special committee's inquiry may be handed to the Attorney General's Office to begin legal proceedings.

He further hinted that should legal proceedings commence it would be better for Abdurrahman to be inactive from his presidential duties as it may impair a fair investigation.

Nevertheless, Akbar stressed that the House was merely presenting suggestions and its own findings of the report and it would be up to the Attorney General's Office to follow up on the matter.

The overwhelming support, while not directly signaling the beginning of the end for Abdurrahman's government, clearly shows that his political strength is effectively waning.

On Wednesday, Abdurrahman had boasted that he had the strong support of Megawati, who chairs PDI Perjuangan, and the military.

However, factions representing the two both exerted strong support for the special committee report, and PDI Perjuangan legislators were also closely involved in the drafting of the final decision adopted by the plenary session.

Abdurrahman was thus effectively left with clear support only from his own PKB faction.

Earlier before the final plenary session, Megawati at her official residence in Central Jakarta met with the head of the PDI Perjuangan faction at the House, Arifin Panigoro, who was accompanied by several other faction members.

The pressure on the President has also been building from outside the House as thousands of demonstrators, overwhelming supporting the special committee's report, have continued noisy protests.

The head of the Indonesian Military/National Police faction at the House, Hari Sabarno, said on Thursday members of his faction were just carrying out their duty as legislators in supporting the special committee's report.

He remarked that it should not be interpreted as a move on TNI's part to abandon the President.

"We're just doing our job as legislators, but the TNI chief and all the soldiers still stand behind the President, whoever that person may be ," Hari told journalists, adding that it was not a sign that the TNI supported efforts to topple the President.

Hari underlined that the faction was just doing what it believed was right since controlling the President was its main duty in the House.

"That's why we asked the House to follow up on the case proportionally and in a constitutional manner. The House should decide what to do next, rationally and without emotion," he added.

When asked to comment on the likely outcome, Hari remarked that it would depend on the relationship between PDI Perjuangan and PKB as the two parties in government. (dja/rms)