Megawati rejects interpellation motion

Megawati rejects interpellation motion

Fabiola Desy Unidjaja, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan)
chairwoman Megawati Soekarnoputri has asked members of the
party's faction in the House of Representatives to avoid
exercising their right of interpellation concerning the Rp 30
billion presidential donation she made to the Indonesian Military
(TNI).

"The chairwoman has clearly ordered that the case be probed by
a House commission hearing, not by exercising the right of
interpellation," the party's deputy secretary general Agnita
Singadikane told The Jakarta Post on Sunday.

Agnita declined to say whether Megawati, who is also the
President, was prohibiting the party's legislators from joining
28 fellow House members from other factions who have proposed to
the House leaders a motion seeking a presidential clarification
about the source of the donation.

Megawati, Agnita said, had briefed PDI Perjuangan members
about the case and asked them not to make a fuss about it.

Megawati extended the money in February for the rehabilitation
of housing occupied by families of TNI and National Police rank
and file members.

State/Cabinet Secretary Bambang Kesowo has explained that the
money was taken from the Presidential Aid Fund, known as Banpres
in Indonesian, an off-state budget fund introduced by former
president Soeharto in 1970.

Last week, the chairman of the Supreme Audit Agency, Satrio B.
Judono, said the use of the fund for a presidential donation was
improper. In response to the statement, Bambang Kesowo said he
would clarify the issue during a hearing with House Commission I
for security and political affairs as soon the House reassembled
in May.

Collecting money for non-budgetary funds from state-owned
companies was stopped in 1995 and since she ascended as President
in July last year, Megawati has said she had decided to stop all
use of such funds.

Presidential Decree No.4/2000 issued by former president
Abdurrahman Wahid stipulates that all non-budgetary funds should
be incorporated into the state budget, and that their
disbursement must be approved by the Minister of Finance.

During the three decades of the Soeharto regime, trillions of
rupiah had been raised through the Presidential Assistance Fund
scheme. The BPK reported that the fund had been reduced to only
Rp 540 billion in 2000, and that only Rp 330 billion was left in
2002.

Vice President Hamzah Haz admitted on Friday that some of the
Presidential Assistance Fund had been used to finance various
social activities of both the President and Vice President.

"But I can assure you that the money is still there and the
fund has been undergoing reorganization as regards its status and
usage," Hamzah said.