House factions turn down President's proposal
House factions turn down President's proposal
JAKARTA (JP): A last-ditch move to reach a compromise between
squabbling members of the political elite has failed as major
factions at the House of Representatives turned down on Saturday
President Abdurrahman Wahid's proposal to transfer presidential
power to Vice President Megawati Soekarnoputri.
A meeting of top House legislators hosted by Indonesian
Democratic Party of Struggle faction chairman Arifin Panigoro at
his residence on Saturday resulted in a unanimous decision to
proceed with the impeachment process of the President.
In their plenary session next Wednesday, the House members are
expected to call for a People's Consultative Assembly (MPR)
special session to impeach the President on the grounds that he
failed to heed two motions of censure against him.
Abdurrahman's National Awakening Party (PKB) faction was not
represented in Saturday's informal gathering, the second in as
many days hosted by oil baron Arifin.
Arifin told a post-meeting joint media conference that his
faction rejected the President's offer, saying the way he put
pressure on Megawati to accept the proposal was in violation of
the Constitution.
"The President has a problem not with the Vice President but
with the House," Arifin said.
Abdurrahman, whose relations with Megawati have been visibly
deteriorating, said on Saturday that acceptance of his proposal
would prevent both an MPR special session to impeach him and the
imposition of a state of emergency, which would enable him to
dissolve the House.
Golkar faction chairman Syamsul Muarif said his faction
supported the MPR special session as a forum to seek a peaceful
solution to the current political crisis.
"Settlement of the political crisis should take place in a
(MPR) special session. The President is a strange personality
because he is prone to making contradictory statements from one
day to another," he said.
Syamsul said Golkar executive board also held a meeting
earlier in the day in which the party opposed the power-
delegation proposal and the possible imposition of a state of
emergency through a presidential decree.
"Our party will call for a hastened MPR special session to
impeach the President if the decree is issued. There is no
adequate reason for him to enact such a decree," he said.
United Development Party faction chairman Ali Marwan Hanan
said that his faction would not drop its call for an Assembly
special session to hear the President's accountability speech.
"The political crisis will continue as long as Gus Dur holds
power," he said.
Hatta Radjasa of the Reform faction said the President's
erratic leadership and his failure to positively respond to the
House's two memoranda of censure were adequate grounds to show
him the door.
"To our faction, it is better for Gus Dur to step down
voluntarily rather than be impeached now that an Assembly special
session looks inevitable," Hatta said, referring to the President
by nickname.
Moderate
Later in the day after a meeting attended by the President,
the PKB called on Megawati to reconsider the power-transfer
proposal which it considered the most moderate way to end the
political crisis.
Abdul Kholiq Achmad said the proposal was aimed at avoiding
two possible extreme consequences of the President's impeachment,
namely widespread chaos and dissolution of the House.
"PKB is of the opinion that if a special session takes place,
the House will have mistakenly adopted the parliamentary system
and it would be valid if the President dissolves the House for
the constitutional violation," he said.
He said the PKB had opposed the power-transfer proposal on
principal, but could understand it given the worsening political
crisis.
Separately, Lt. Gen. Budhi Harsono, chairman of the Indonesian
Military/National Police faction, reiterated that the faction
would stay out of the conflict between the President and civilian
politicians and would fight only for national interests.
"The military will consistently oppose both the declaration of
a state of emergency and House dissolution. Our faction will
unveil our political stance in the last minutes prior to the May
30 plenary session," he said.
Meanwhile, House Speaker Akbar Tandjung said he had made
necessary preparations for Wednesday's plenary session, including
coordinating with the city security authorities.
"A draft of an official request to the MPR for a special
session has been drawn up in anticipation of the House's
disapproval of the President's leadership," he said after a House
leadership meeting.
He said further that the plenary meeting could be moved
forward if the President abruptly declared a state of emergency.
(rms)