House members nearly brawl over Cemex case

House members nearly brawl over Cemex case

Rendi A. Witular, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Lawmakers nearly got into a brawl on Thursday after failing to
agree on a plan to disclose alleged irregularities in the
settlement process of a dispute between the government and
Mexican cement giant Cemex SA involving a broken contract with a
state-owned company.

The incident occurred during a hearing between members of the
House of Representatives' Commission VI with State Minister of
State Enterprises Sugiharto to discuss issues related with the
development of state enterprises.

The Commission oversees industry, trade and state enterprises.

The heated quarreling started when House member Azam Azman
Natawijana planned to make public his self-proclaimed findings
over irregularities involving state officials who have been
trying to settle the government's dispute with Cemex.

According to Azam, a lawmaker from the Democrat Party, the
irregularities should be disclosed publicly as they could have
caused losses to the state.

"I have here some documents and reports of irregularities in
the government's options (offered) to Cemex as part of efforts to
end the protracted dispute without going to court. The public
needs to know this," said Azam.

However, before Azam had a chance to read out the findings,
Fahri Hamzah of the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) interrupted
and shouted at his fellow House member and demanded the findings
not be made public. Fachri argued that it would jeopardize the
ongoing settlement process.

"As we have agreed earlier, such detailed findings should be
discussed only in closed-door meetings. The public should not
know it before the government and Cemex finally reach an
agreement to end their dispute," said Hamzah.

Fahri's arguments, however, prompted other House members to
join in the quarrel, and accused the PKS member of involvement in
the irregularities.

"Fahri is trying to protect corrupt state officials. The
irregularities should be made public. We should be suspicious
over his sudden rejection," said Epyardi Asda of the United
Development Party (PPP).

Angered by the accusations, Fahri began screaming at Epyardi,
which was followed by a full-fledged cacophony of shouting and
screaming by fellow faction members. "You should shut your mouth
once and for all," Fahri bellowed.

The hearing erupted into chaos. The rancorous shouting and
quarreling lasted about 15 minutes and seemed on the verge of
full-scale barroom brawl before the Commission's deputy chairman,
Ade Komaruddin, finally was able to restore a semblance of order
by getting his colleagues to sit down and stop shouting.

As the meeting continued the commission members agreed to
disclose the findings during a closed-door special session next
week.

The Cemex-government dispute arose when the government failed
to fulfill its side of an investment contract signed in 1998.
Under the deal, Cemex was to acquire majority control in state
cement producer PT Semen Gresik, but its West Sumatra subsidiary
PT Semen Padang staunchly opposed the arrangement and managed to
thwart the deal.

Cemex later filed a lawsuit at the International Center for
the Settlement of Investment Disputes, but that was put on hold
after Indonesia convinced Cemex that it was serious about an out-
of-court settlement.

The government has come up with some settlement options,
however, a number of politicians, along with Semen Gresik's labor
union spokespeople have expressed deep opposition over those
options, apparently, as they claim, due to fears that foreigners
would have too much control over the nation's cement industry.