House may summon President

House may summon President

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta, Bandung

In a move that could spark a possible conflict between President
Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and the House of Representatives, major
factions in the legislature filed a petition on Thursday to
summon the new president over the issue involving the Indonesian
Military (TNI) chief's replacement.

The petition was signed by 20 legislators from factions
grouped in the Nationhood Coalition -- the Golkar Party, the
Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), the Reform Star
Party (PBR) and the Prosperous Peace Party (PDS).

The National Awakening Party (PKB) faction, which is not
officially part of the coalition, also backed the petition
requiring Susilo to clarify his decision to annul former
president Megawati Soekarnoputri's request to replace TNI chief
Gen. Endriartono Sutarto.

The signatories said Susilo must explain what he meant by
consolidation between his administration and the military, which
the President cited as the reason for his decision to retract
Megawati's letter that approved Endriartono's resignation.

House member Effendy Choirie of the PKB faction said the
motion would be a way to "warn" the President about his decision-
making powers.

"The most important thing is that it will send a warning to
the President," he said, claiming more legislators would lend
support for the move.

Effendy was among the signatories of the petition along with
19 other lawmakers including Yudi Chrisnandi of Golkar, Roy BB
Janis of PDI-P, Jefrrey Massie of PDS, and Ade Nasution of PBR.

The House's standing orders state that a proposal to summon
the President requires an approval of at least 13 legislators.

Susilo's aides have said the President was ready to speak with
the House to clarify his decision to retain Endiartono as the
military commander.

In the West Java capital of Bandung, Army chief Gen. Ryamizard
Ryacudu said on Thursday that Endriartono remained the TNI chief
and controversies over the latter's resignation have been
manipulated for certain political gains.

"Pak Endriartono is still the TNI chief and I remain in my
post as the Army chief. There are certain procedures that we must
pursue to change the TNI leadership. The TNI is not an object (to
be used) by the politicians," Ryamizard said.

In her letter to the House, Megawati also named Ryamizard as
the acting TNI chief.

Earlier on Wednesday, the House endorsed the establishment of
11 commissions and five auxiliary bodies in a plenary session,
which was boycotted by factions grouped in the pro-Susilo
People's Coalition -- the United Development Party (PPP), the
Democratic Party, the National Mandate Party (PAN), the
Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) and the Democratic Pioneer Reform
faction.

The results of the plenary meeting could mean some future
challenges for the Susilo government as they gave out seven
commission chairmanships to Golkar, six to PDI-P and three to
PKB.

The two successive moves could set a precedent for future
attempts from the Golkar-led Nationhood Coalition to stymie any
policy proposals submitted by the Susilo administration, as was
predicted weeks ago by analysts.