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.