Gus Dur censured over scandals
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)