Legislators indifferent, delay talks on Akbar
Legislators indifferent, delay talks on Akbar
Kurniawan Hari, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The House of Representatives' steering committee (Bamus) on
Thursday agreed to postpone the deliberation of a petition
against its convicted speaker Akbar Tandjung until the end of
October, indicating that the legislators were halfhearted in the
maneuver.
The delay was the second time after the House decided to
shelve its discussion on Sept. 19.
Deputy House speaker A.M. Fatwa of the Reform faction who
presided over the Bamus meeting on Thursday cited the lack of
time available to discuss the matter.
"We discussed the agenda for the plenary meeting on (Friday)
and the time is not enough to deal with this petition. It (the
petition against Akbar) will be discussed on the next
parliamentary session," Fatwa told the press after the meeting.
The plenary meeting on Friday would mark the ending of this
sitting period. Legislators will go for a one-month recess.
The repeated delay reminds the public of the proposal to set
up a parliamentary committee of inquiry into the graft case
involving Akbar before he was declared guilty.
After a series of delays in the steering committee and in the
plenary session, the House finally voted against the proposal to
form an inquiry team several months ago.
In the meantime, two legislators Susono Yusuf and Dwi Ria
Latifa, who initiated the petition, expressed their
disappointment over the delay.
"I think the delay is just political manipulation by the big
parties," Susono of the National Awakening Party (PKB) said
without giving elaboration.
Dwi Ria of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle, the
largest House faction, meanwhile, said that although she attended
the steering committee's meeting she was not allowed to speak out
as she was not a member of the committee.
"I attended the meeting to represent the 72 legislators," she
added, referring to the legislators who signed the petition.
Signs of declining enthusiasm to force Akbar, also chairman of
the Golkar Party, to relinquish his leadership post in the House
were in evidence since the beginning of the meeting.
The meeting that was supposed to start at 2 p.m., but was
delayed for an hour because only few members were present at the
meeting.
The meeting was finally begun an hour late and was attended by
40 members of the 76-strong committee.
The Central Jakarta District Court on Sept. 4 convicted Akbar
of misusing Rp 40 billion (US$4 million) belonging to the State
Logistics Agency (Bulog) and sentenced him to three years in
prison.
The panel of judges, however, did not immediately order his
detention and he is still free awaiting appeal.
Following the conviction of Akbar, Susono and Dwi Ria
collected signatures of legislators in support of a petition
against Akbar.
Despite no precedence, the petition, if it gains enough
support, could lead to a vote of no confidence against Akbar,
leading to his dismissal.