House to deabte Akbar investigation

Kurniawan Hari, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The House of Representatives is scheduled to begin a debate on Thursday on the establishment of a special committee in charge of investigating House Speaker Akbar Tandjung's alleged involvement in a Rp 54.6 (about US$5 million) corruption case.

Members of the House Deliberation Body will convene and set a schedule to decide when legislators will call a plenary session to vote on the possibility of creating such a committee.

"Tomorrow (Thursday), Pak Soetardjo Soerjogoeritno (a House Deputy Speaker) will preside over a Bamus meeting to arrange the schedule. I am optimistic, the proposal to form a special committee will be approved," House Deputy Speaker Muhaimin Iskandar said after a leadership meeting.

The leadership meeting was attended by only three of the five top leaders, Muhaimin, House Deputy Speaker A.M. Fatwa, House Speaker Akbar Tandjung in addition to the secretary-general and staff of the Deliberation Body.

Akbar, also chairman of Golkar Party, was implicated in the alleged misuse of Rp 54.6 billion funds belonging to the State Logistic Agency (Bulog) when he served as state secretary/Cabinet secretary in 1999 during then-president B.J. Habibie's tenure.

There are suspicions among many that the money, which was meant to help the needy who were most affected by the economic crisis, was used to finance Golkar's campaign activities as the embattled Habibie was struggling for re-election.

Akbar said as a legislator he would let the current mechanisms determine whether the proposal would get support or not. "I have no authority to reject the proposal. As a House speaker, my authority is the same as that of any other legislator," he claimed.

At least 50 House members have lobbied for the creation of the special committee.

The Attorney General's Office is currently probing the case, but some legal analysts and non-governmental organizations believe there should be a House inquiry as well.