Legislators fail to submit proposal against Gus Dur

Legislators fail to submit proposal against Gus Dur

JAKARTA (JP): Legislators failed to submit on Thursday a
proposal for the House of Representatives (DPR) to issue a "right
of expression" on President Abdurrahman Wahid's performance.

"We'll submit the proposal on Nov. 30. Now, we're waiting for
more signatories," legislator Alvin Lie from the National Mandate
Party (PAN) told reporters after meeting Deputy House Speaker
Soetardjo Soerjoguritno.

Alvin, accompanied by Julius Usman of the Indonesian
Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan) and Ade Komaruddin
of the Golkar Party, met with Soetardjo to discuss the proposal.

He said the proposal, which will describe several alleged
Constitutional violations by Gus Dur, the president's nickname,
has been signed by more than 100 legislators.

Ade Komaruddin said the proposal, if endorsed by the House
plenary session, could lead to a petition questioning the
President's performance.

"If the President cannot respond satisfactorily to questions
in the memorandum, the House could call a special session of the
People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) to hold the President
accountable," Ade said.

He claimed that legislators from Abdurrahman's own National
Awakening Party (PKB) and the Indonesian Military (TNI)/Police
factions refused to endorse the proposal.

A source said that Soetardjo, who is also a senior legislator
of PDI Perjuangan, likely disagreed with the proposal initiated
by the young legislators.

"On Aug. 30, the House will decide whether they will accept
the memorandum or not. However, I, myself, will not sign it,"
Sutardjo said before his party's national meeting later in the
day.

Former Coordinating Minister for Economy, Finance and Industry
Kwik Kian Gie also said he would not sign the proposal.

"I have nothing to do with it, and I don't want to know about
it, either", Kwik, who earlier sponsored an informal legislators
meeting on Nov. 11, said.

Meanwhile, secretary to PKB faction Abdul Kholiq Achmad
considered that the demonstrations at the DPR/MPR building
compound on Thursday were closely linked with the memorandum
calling for an MPR special session to impeach the president.

He said legislators who signed the memorandum were those who
had demanded the President's resignation in the Kwik-initiated
meeting.

"The memorandum will not win the support of the 500-member
House because there is no evidence to prove that the President
has violated the Constitution, the State Guidelines or the law,"
Kholiq said.

In a separate conflict between political elites, Fuad Amin
Imran, another PKB legislator, challenged former finance minister
Fuad Bawazir to go to court over an accusation that the latter
had financed a series of anti-President Abdurrahman
demonstrations.

"I have authentic evidence that Fuad Bawazir has sponsored the
demonstrations at the House, asking the President to step down,"
he said on a talk show aired by private television station SCTV
on Thursday.

Fuad Amin was responding to Fuad Bawazir's threat to sue him
over the accusation.

Fuad Amin said he had 40 witnesses and copies of bank transfer
receipts to prove that Fuad Bawazir had paid a number of non-
governmental organizations to organize the mass demonstrations.

Separately, Taufikurrahman Saleh, chairman of the PKB faction
at the House, and Kholiq confirmed that their faction had
collected evidence alleging involvement by certain political
figures, including Fuad Bawazir, in maneuvers to topple the
President.

"We have prepared authentic evidence to present in court that
Fuad Bawazir participated in financing the demonstrations,"
Taufikurrahman told The Jakarta Post.

He regretted the demonstrations and the political engineering
conducted by certain political figures to topple the president,
saying they should be held responsible if the demonstrations turn
violent.

Outside the House building, thousands of anti-government
demonstrators almost clashed with pro-government demonstrators on
Thursday when the two camps readied sticks and stones while
exchanging harsh words.

Pro-government demonstrators withdrew when around 500 anti-
riot Police from the Police Mobile Brigade moved to disperse the
two groups.

In Semarang, Abdurrahman's uncle and chairman of the Central
Java chapter of the Indonesian Muslim Council of Ulemas (MUI),
Sahal Mahfud, said the situation would not improve if the
President was asked to resign.

"We should consider that the situation might get worse," said
Sahal, who is also chairman of the legislative body of the
country's largest Muslim organization Nahdlatul Ulama (NU).
(02/har/rms/jun)