House may summon Megawati over Dili visit

Kurniawan Hari, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Eight legislators, on behalf of 31 House of Representatives (DPR) members, on Friday submitted a petition to House Speaker Akbar Tandjung, demanding that the House summon President Megawati Soekarnoputri over her May 19 visit to East Timor.

The petition was sparked by the decision of president, also chairwoman of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan), to ignore a suggestion by the House that she did not visit the country's former 27th province due to many unsolved problems, including national assets in East Timor and refugees.

"We hope the explanation of the president will clarify the main purpose and political impact of the government's policy," Golkar legislator Natercia Menino Jose Osorio Soares said.

Responding to the petition, Akbar, also the Golkar chairman, simply said that it would be brought to the House's steering committee (Bamus) before being brought to a plenary meeting for approval.

The move was the second petition Megawati has to deal with. Another group of legislators had proposed a petition to seek an explanation of the Rp 30 billion (some US$3 million) fund she gave to the military and police to renovate housing complexes of their personnel in February.

The first move was delayed by Bamus pending verification from a smaller team of the House's Commission I for state secretariat and foreign affairs.

Under the House's internal regulations, a petition could be proposed with the support of at least 10 legislators.

Speculation was rife that the move on Friday was sponsored by the Golkar Party whose chairman Akbar Tandjung is on trial in a Rp 40 billion graft case.

Golkar's legislator Yasril Ananta Baharuddin has been busy in recent days collecting signatures from seven other factions. Meanwhile, the Indonesian Military (TNI)/Police faction chose to remain absent from the maneuver.

Legislator Haryanto Taslam appeared as the only member of the 153-strong PDI Perjuangan faction to support the move.

It was very likely that the petition would be used by Golkar as an instrument for bargaining with Megawati on Akbar's future.

However, Djoko Susilo of the Reform faction denied this, saying that the move was aimed at giving the public a lesson that they had the right to know the foreign policy outlined by the government.

Chairman of the Indonesian Human Rights and Legal Aid Association Hendardi criticized the maneuver, saying that it was a threat to democratization.

He said the politicians were trying to develop unfriendly relations with East Timor by saying that Megawati's visit to the new state was useless.