MPR convenes for final session

MPR convenes for final session

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) will commence its final
session here on Thursday for five days before ending its five-
year term late this month.

The session, to be attended by less than 700 members of the
country's highest Assembly, will cost around 30 billion (US$3.3
billion) and will be tightly guarded by police. It will mark the
final meeting of the lawmakers elected in 1999.

The session comes three days after the landmark presidential
election on Monday, with the imminent defeat of incumbent
President Megawati Soekarnoputri to challenger Susilo Bambang
Yudhoyono, her former chief security minister.

In the first day of the five-day session, Megawati will
present an accountability report of her government.

The speech, likely to be her last in front of the 700-member
Assembly, is expected to cover development programs achieved by
the government in the past five years in the political, security,
economic and social realms.

"She (Megawati) is going to present the five-year development
achievements since the tenure of former president Abdurrahman
Wahid," a source at the State Secretariat told The Jakarta Post.

Megawati was Abdurrahman's vice president and replaced him in
2001, after the Assembly impeached the partially sighted
president for incompetence.

The main point of Megawati's speech will be her report on the
election process, in which she has made a significant
contribution in preparing the "constitutional infrastructure" for
democratic legislative and presidential elections.

All factions in the MPR will give assessments on the
President's accountability report and issue recommendations,
without deciding whether the Assembly will accept or reject the
report.

The Assembly will also hear progress reports from House of
Representatives Speaker Akbar Tandjung, State Audit Agency chief
Satrio B. Joedono, Chief Justice Bagir Manan and Constitutional
Court President Jimly Asshidiqqie.

The MPR has made landmark achievements in constitutional
amendments. Despite several flaws in the amended Constitution, it
had paved the way for a direct presidential election and the
adoption of the bicameral system.

Under the bicameral system, the next MPR will be made up from
the 550-strong House and 128 members of the Regional
Representatives Council (DPD).

Articles on human rights and regional autonomy were are also
included in the four-year constitutional amendment process that
started in 1999.

Meanwhile, police announced on Wednesday that they are
deploying a total of 1,695 personnel to provide security during
the session following the recent bombing outside the Australian
Embassy, which killed 10 people.

Jakarta Police spokesman Sr. Comr. Tjiptono said the officers
would stay put until Oct. 3 at the House until after the
installation of the new members of the House and the DPD, which
will be held on Oct. 1.

The police will also safeguard the hotels where the MPR, DPR
and DPD members will stay during the events in anticipation of
terror threats against them, he added.

"Although we have found no indications of bomb threats yet,
there is a possibility that certain people dissatisfied with the
results of the runoff would attempt to provoke people to disrupt
the events," Tjiptono said.

Assembly spokesman Eddie Siregar said all the 700 MPR members
would stay at the five-star Mulia Hotel, opposite the Assembly
building.