Indonesia needs effective, acceptable government: Factions
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)