House leaders rule Akbar will retain speakership

Kurniawan Hari, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Despite his graft trial, Golkar Party chairman won one of the battles of his political career as leaders of the House of Representatives (DPR) dismissed on Tuesday debates over his status as speaker of the legislative body.

Following a two-hour internal meeting, three deputy House speakers announced that Akbar would retain his position in the House and they would take on his duties while he was in the custody of the Attorney General's Office.

Attending the meeting were Tosari Widjaja of the United Development Party (PPP) faction, A.M. Fatwa of the Reform faction, and Muhaimin Iskandar of the National Awakening Party (PKB) faction. Another deputy Soetardjo Soerjogoeritno of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan) faction is on an official visit to Morocco for an Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) conference.

"The meetings in the House will proceed as usual and will be presided over by one of us," Tosari told a media conference.

Akbar has moved closer to being able to evade an investigation by the House when the House again rescheduled the decision to pass a motion to set up a special committee of inquiry into Akbar's graft case until May. Barring any unforeseen circumstances, the House will vote against the motion after President Megawati Soekarnoputri, who chairs the influential PDI Perjuangan, indicated her rejection of the inquiry.

According to Tosari, the decision was based on Article 21 of the House's internal regulations which state that if the House speaker is unable to carry out his duties, the deputies will take over the tasks.

Based on a consensus between the deputy speakers, economic and financial issues will be handled by Tosari, political and security affairs will be in the hands of Soetardjo, social affairs will be tackled by Muhaimin, and Fatwa will be in charge of people's welfare.

Tosari denied allegations that the detention of Akbar had stalled the work of the House.

"We will give an explanation to legislators regarding the position of House speaker at the plenary meeting on March 28," he said, referring to the session which will mark the closing of the current sitting. The House will resume activities in mid-May.

At a plenary meeting on Monday, a legislator from PDI Perjuangan Panda Nababan questioned the function of Akbar following his detention on March 7.

Akbar, who also chairs Golkar Party, was detained to precipitate the investigation into his alleged involvement in the misappropriation of Rp 40 billion in funds belonging to the State Logistics Agency (Bulog) when he was the minister/state secretary in 1999.

Since the arrest, debates have been rife among legislators over whether they should appoint a replacement for Akbar.

PKB had appeared to spearhead the talks on the dismissal of Akbar from the top legislative post. Some other legislators recommended that Akbar should be suspended and be non-active until he is convicted.

Golkar legislators, however, defended their leader, saying there was no regulation whatsoever that can force Akbar to relinquish his post.

Muhaimin claimed on Monday that the detention of Akbar had affected the House's performance. But he was silenced when Tosari dismissed his opinion.

Apart from discussing the internal House activities, the meeting on Tuesday also touched on plans to continue deliberation of the bill on the presidency, regulations against female students wearing Muslim head scarves in school and the poor performance of legislators. Tosari, however, did not elaborate on these topics.

Separately, Vice President Hamzah Haz, who is also PPP chairman, said he would not interfere with the House factions in deciding the fate of Akbar.

"Whatever decision is taken by the factions, we must respect it," Hamzah told reporters at his office on Tuesday.