Internal spat leaves House in vacuum

Internal spat leaves House in vacuum

Kurniawan Hari, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

A plenary meeting attended by five of the 10 factions in the
House of Representatives endorsed on Wednesday members of 11
House commissions and five auxiliary bodies, but rival factions
and an expert dismissed the session as invalid.

The factions that make up the Nationhood Coalition -- Golkar
Party, the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), the
Reform Star Party (PBR) and the Prosperous Peace Party (PDS), as
well as the National Awakening Party (PKB), went ahead with the
plenary meeting even as other factions in the House boycotted the
session for a second consecutive day.

Faction members of the People's Coalition -- the United
Development Party (PPP), the Democratic Party, the National
Mandate Party (PAN), the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) and the
Democratic Pioneer Reform faction -- stayed away from a scheduled
plenary meeting on Tuesday, forcing House Speaker Agung Laksono
to delay the meeting until Wednesday.

Article 203 of the House's standing orders stipulate that a
House meeting can take a decision only if attended by more than
half of the members representing more than half of the factions
in the House.

While the meeting on Wednesday was attended by 309 of 547
House members, legally the plenary session had no authority to
make a decision as it was not attended by more than half of the
factions in the House.

The five factions, however, went ahead with the meeting,
arguing that each legislator was autonomous.

"We understand the stipulation in the House's standing orders,
but I think each legislator is autonomous. We must start working
now and continue these proceedings," said Sutjipto of the PDI-P
during the meeting.

The plenary session also endorsed working partners for each
commission and formed a special committee to revise the House's
standing orders to require that a meeting need only be attended
by more than half of the House members to qualify to issue
binding agreements.

Legislator Djuhad Mahja of United Development Party said the
plenary session was illegitimate and its decisions invalid.

"They can organize a meeting, but they cannot make any
decisions," Djuhad said.

The factions that make up the People's Coalition, which are
known to support President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, appealed to
the Nationhood Coalition to agree to a meeting to renegotiate the
chairmanship posts.

Tomy A. Legowo from the Centre for Strategic and International
Studies also said the plenary meeting on Wednesday was
illegitimate.

"Consequently, decisions taken in the meeting are invalid," he
told The Jakarta Post.

Tomy, who is also director of House watchdog Formappi,
suggested the 10 factions sit down together and settle their
differences.

Members of the People's Coalition decided not to attend the
plenary session after their demands that commission and auxiliary
body chairs be assigned in proportion to seat numbers in the
House were rejected by the Nationhood Coalition and the PKB.

House leaders and faction chairs had agreed on Oct. 18 to
distribute the leadership posts proportionally. Under the
proportional system, Golkar would have about four commission
chairs, PDI-P three, PAN, PPP and PD two, and PKB one.

This agreement was abandoned allegedly after the PKB insisted
that it should receive two commission chairmanships. The PKB,
under the leadership of Ali Masykur Musa, then approached the
Nationhood Coalition and offered support for its proposal to put
the leadership posts to a vote.

Under this new scheme, Golkar, the PDI-P and the PKB would get
seven, six and three chairmanship posts, respectively, an
arrangement that could pose a formidable challenge to Susilo.