House factions reduce upcoming recess period

House factions reduce upcoming recess period

JAKARTA (JP): The House of Representatives (DPR) decided on
Friday to cut short its recess, a move that will allow the
legislative body to assemble in time to issue the second
memorandum to President Abdurrahman "Gus Dur" Wahid.

Heri Akhmadi, secretary of the Indonesian Democratic Party of
Struggle (PDI Perjuangan) faction, said all factions reached an
agreement in a closed-door meeting to have a shorter recess from
April 2 to April 25 as the House will have numerous tasks to do
in the next two months.

"All factions agreed to have a shorter recess so that the
House's next sitting will start ahead of schedule," he said, but
did not elaborate.

Earlier on Thursday, the National Awakening Party (PKB)
faction submitted a petition that the proposal to cut short the
recess be rejected. The proposal was submitted by major factions
on Friday last week.

Syamsul Muarif, chairman of the Golkar Party faction,
confirmed that the recess was cut short to three weeks from six
because the House had to complete its deliberations on the bill
on special autonomy for Aceh and to evaluate the government's
performance in line with the Feb. 1 issuance of the first
memorandum.

"The bill on Aceh autonomy must be endorsed before May 1, when
the planned special autonomy in the troubled province will be
implemented. The House must also evaluate the government's
performance in accordance with the deadline of the three month
memorandum on April 30 at the latest," he said.

Syamsul reminded that the House is likely to issue the second
memorandum if the president fails to make improvements in the
government as required in the first.

"We will evaluate not only the president's response to the
first memorandum, but also any improvement made within the three-
month period," he said.

Sophan Sophiaan, a member of the PDI Perjuangan faction, said
the House would be likely to issue a second memorandum to the
president because of a lack of improvement in the government.

"Gus Dur is actually unable to cope with numerous problems and
lead the nation," he said.

According to the 1978 MPR Decree, the House is allowed to call
for a special session to impeach the president if the latter is
considered to have failed to make improvements in his government.

Outside the meeting room, hundreds of Gus Dur supporters
shouted and demanded the factions schedule a plenary meeting to
annul the memorandum, saying that the president was not involved
in the two alleged financial scandals.

Arief Budiman, a representative of the protesters who had
occupied the House complex since Thursday, said they would not
return home unless the House revoke the memorandum.

"We demand the House Factions Meeting Forum (Bamus) schedule a
plenary session to annul the memorandum and avoid bloodshed at
the compound," he said.

He said People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) Speaker Amien
Rais and House Speaker Akbar Tandjung be unseated as both were
allegedly behind the moves to topple the President.

In a related development, an alliance of Betawi Student and
Youth organizations called on Gus Dur's supporters to return to
their hometowns to avoid worsening the situation in the capital.

"It's better for them to go back voluntarily before we have to
drive them out by force," Fachrur Rodji, the alliance spokesman,
said.

Separately, City Police chief of detectives Sr. Comr. Harry
Montolalu said on Friday that members of the Student Executive
Boards (BEMs) had surrendered 32 molotov cocktails, which the
students said they had found amid the scuffles near the
Indonesian Legal Aid Foundation (YLBHI) office in Central Jakarta
on Wednesday.

"I'm really grateful to these students for handing over the
evidence, although they are two days late," Harry told reporters
at city police headquarters.

He added that the 17 people who had been detained on Wednesday
over the scuffles, included four students from the Bung Karno
University, while most of them were clients of YLBHI.

"There was a deserting Navy officer, Second Sgt. Suhanto, who
was among the 17 detained. We have handed him over to the
Military Police," Harry said.

"We have released all clients of YLBHI since they were not
involved, while the students are still being questioned."
(rms/ylt)