House delays talks on AGO's budget

House delays talks on AGO's budget

JAKARTA: The House of Representatives Commission III
overseeing law, human rights and security will delay talks on
budget allocations for the Attorney General's Office until last
week's war of words between the two powerful institutions gets
resolved, legislators said on Monday.

Commission chairman Teras Narang said after an internal
meeting on Monday that he would inform House speaker Agung
Laksono about the commission's decision as soon as possible.

The commission is likely to demand that President Susilo
Bambang Yudhoyono formally reprimand Attorney General Abdul
Rahman Saleh, following a heated exchange between the state's top
prosecutors and the commission members last week. It started when
one legislator called the prosecutors "village thieves", which
prompted the prosecutors to object vehemently, effectively ending
the meeting before any constructive conclusions could be reached.

The House's ethics committee is also scheduled to hold a
meeting to determine whether the whole affair constituted a
display of contempt of the House of Representatives. --JP