House members split on date of plenary session

House members split on date of plenary session

JAKARTA (JP): With the summit of the G-15 drawing nearer, the
House of Representatives remains split on whether they will
reschedule an all important plenary session which coincides with
the head of states meeting.

The House is set to convene a plenary session to discuss the
next step of the memorandum process against the President at the
end of the month, while the G-15 summit has been penciled in for
May 30-31.

House speaker Akbar Tandjung and the House Consultative Body
(Bamus) remain at odds at whether the legislature should
acquiesce to the government's appeal to postpone the hearings.

Akbar said he "understands" the need to delay the plenary
session "for a couple of days."

We do not see any problem with that," Akbar remarked on
Friday.

"We know that we have to host the important summit...We ask
the government to send an official letter signed by the President
so we can rearrange the schedule," Akbar remarked.

But the House's Consultative Body seemed to be less willing to
bend.

During the body's meeting chaired by House deputy speaker A.M.
Fatwa of the Reform faction on Thursday, May 30 was set as the
date for the plenary session.

The plenary session could determine the fate of embattled
President Abdurrahman Wahid as it could call on the People's
Consultative Assembly to convene a special session.

The G-15 comprises Algeria, Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Egypt,
India, Indonesia, Jamaica, Kenya, Malaysia, Mexico, Nigeria,
Peru, Senegal, Sri Lanka, Venezuela and Zimbabwe.

"I know that the Bamus meeting, led by one of the deputy
speakers, has determined the date but they have yet to receive an
official letter from the President. When we receive the letter we
will consider resetting the schedule," Akbar said while adding
that he had also informed the meeting of the possible clash of
dates.

Fatwa, known to be a harsh critic of the President, later on
Friday dismissed suggestions to reschedule the plenary session as
an attempt to give the President more time to maneuver during his
time of crisis.

"It is clearly stipulated that the President has only one
month after the second censure and that falls exactly on May 30.
So, according to regulation we have to convene the session on
that date," Fatwa remarked.

An official at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs told The
Jakarta Post that a draft of the request letter had been
submitted to the State Secretary for President Abdurrahman to
sign.

"It had been decided in the last Cabinet meeting on Saturday
that we will send the request letter signed by the President as
soon as possible," the official said. (dja)