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.