Indonesia needs effective, acceptable government: Factions

JAKARTA (JP): Leaders of the 10 factions at the House of Representatives agreed on Wednesday that the country urgently needed an effective and acceptable government to lead the country out of the current crisis.

After holding a five-hour-long meeting, the chairmen of the 10 factions affirmed that "an effective and acceptable government is one that has support from all political powers in the country."

They also underlined that all future decisions must be collective, with all parties taking equal responsibility.

Skirting the issue of a possible change of national leadership and impeachment process, the faction leaders said that any process pursued must be through the House and the People's Consultative Assembly, in accordance with the Constitution.

"We agreed that it would be impossible to solve the country's problems without an effective government that has the support of all political parties in the country," the chairman of the Indonesian Nationhood faction, Sutradara Gintings, said in a media conference following the meeting.

"We agreed to support the constitutional process to end the current crisis as all decisions taken through the process would be accepted as a collective decision with collective responsibility," he remarked.

Sutradara revealed that in the next few days legislators at the House would actively engage in trying to seek a solution to the country's problems.

He reassured the public not to worry.

"Inside the meeting we agreed that all efforts should be conducted peacefully and that measures taken outside of the institutional process would be seen as deviant," he added.

Wednesday's meeting was hosted by the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan), the largest faction at the House, and intended as a preliminary meeting for a gathering of political party leaders sometime next week.

There were few signs of discord displayed by the faction representatives as they gathered in front of a waiting media, despite the ongoing political impasse.

All supported the stance given.

National Awakening Party (PKB) faction secretary Abdul Kholiq Ahmad announced that it was necessary to have an effective government supported by all the political parties.

"We need to have that because we cannot allow the country to remain in its current transitional process. We need to change the condition of the country as soon as possible," he said after the meeting.

When asked whether this was a sign of PKB showing a willingness to support a special session of the Assembly, he replied: "We did not talk about a special session. We talked about political efforts to help us get out of the crisis."

The TNI/Police faction chairman, Budi Harsono, echoed the demand for a better government saying that it is important to have a good government to deal with the current problem.

"But, we don't mean that we just need an effective executive but also an effective legislature and judiciary for the sake of the country," he said at the media briefing.

Arifin Panigoro, chairman of the PDI Perjuangan faction said the results of the meeting would be presented as proposals for next week's meeting between political party leaders.

"From the meeting we can see that most factions had agreed with the ongoing process at the House that will lead to the Assembly session," he remarked. (dja)