House votes to question President

House votes to question President

JAKARTA (JP): The House of Representatives overwhelmingly
approved on Thursday an interpellation motion to question
President Abdurrahman Wahid over the recent dismissal of two of
his economic ministers.

Preceded by a fierce debate, House members voted 332 to 63 to
support the interpellation proposal in an open vote.

The supporters of the motion were predominantly legislators
from the Golkar Party and the Indonesian Democratic Party of
Struggle (PDI Perjuangan), whose cadres, Yusuf Kalla and
Laksamana Sukardi, were dismissed late in April as minister of
industry and trade and state minister of investment and state
enterprises development respectively.

Those who were opposed were from the National Awakening Party
(PKB) faction which Abdurrahman helped establish. Two tiny
factions -- the eight-member Indonesian Unity and Nationalism
(FKKI) faction and the five-member Love and Democratic Nation
(PDKB) faction -- also challenged the proposal.

All 34 legislators from the Indonesian Military/Police
faction, one PDI Perjuangan legislator and another from the
People's Sovereignty faction chose to abstain in the three-hour
plenary session which began at about 10 a.m.

A total of 431 legislators attended the session which was
presided over by House Deputy Speaker A.M. Fatwa.

Commenting on the vote results, House Speaker Akbar Tandjung
said the interpellation was aimed at cautioning Abdurrahman over
his controversial statements.

"It's a warning to the President that the House is always
watching his political policy," Akbar, who chairs the Golkar
Party, said after the plenary session.

Akbar, who also was in support of the proposal, was quick to
add that the interpellation had no political consequences for the
President, and could not even lead to the President's ousting.

The House gave Abdurrahman until July 21 to reply before a
plenary session.

Akbar said legislators who were dissatisfied with the
President's explanation of the case could use a right to release
opinion.

"The interpellation results will be brought before the General
Session of the People's Consultative Assembly in August as part
of our annual report," he said.

An exchange of arguments prevailed shortly after PDI
Perjuangan legislator Didi Suprianto read out the interpellation
proposal, which was originally initiated by Golkar.

Didi said House members did not intend to question the
President's prerogative to dismiss his ministers but "to ask for
an explanation and to question the inconsistent reasons of the
dismissals".

Citing a House internal ruling, PKB legislator Yusuf Muhammad
contended that asking for an explanation and questioning the
President required different procedures. He said the topic of the
interpellation should be restricted to the President's policies.

Another PKB legislator, A. Effendy Choirie, questioned the
interpellation move since Abdurrahman revealed his reasons to
dismiss Kalla and Laksamana during a closed-door meeting.

"What's the consequence for legislators who leak the results
of a closed-door meeting which should have been kept secret,"
Effendy said.

Some legislators quoted Abdurrahman as saying that the two
ministers were fired due to alleged corruption, collusion and
nepotism practices.

As the debate dragged on, PDI Perjuangan faction chairman
Arifin Panigoro asked A.M. Fatwa to suspend the session to allow
all 10 factions in the House to lobby. No agreement was reached
but to vote.

All PDI Perjuangan's 130 legislators, except Aberson Marle
Sihaloho and Marah Simon Muhammad Syah, were in favor of the
proposal. Aberson rejected the proposal while Marah abstained.

"I'm sure that my party would not impose any sanctions over my
stance. We are a democratic party," the senior politician said.

But Arifin said punishment awaited the two legislators, which
ranged from a warning to dismissal.

Later in the day, Akbar put pressure on the government over
its decision to detain Bank Indonesia Governor Sjahril Sabirin,
who has been named a suspect in the Bank Bali scandal.

"I find no reason to keep him in detention as he has not
hampered the ongoing investigation. If he wanted to escape
charges, he could have accepted the President's offer to become
an ambassador," Akbar announced after visiting Sjahril for 20
minutes at the Attorney General's Office detention
center.(jun/bby)