MPR may ask Soeharto for account

JAKARTA (JP): The special session of the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) planned for November may well hear former president Soeharto's account of his leadership if the factions push the issue, according to Assembly member Poedjono Pranyoto.

The head of the body's working committee (BP-MPR) in charge of preparing the agenda for the session responded on Thursday to growing calls that the special session be used to hear Soeharto's account for alleged wrongdoings that plunged the country into the crisis.

"The possibility is still there, but of course it will depend on the factions," Poedjono told journalists.

The MPR comprises of factions of the Armed Forces (ABRI), the United Development Party (PPP), the dominant Golkar, the Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI) and regional representatives. The BP-MPR -- a 90-member body -- is part of the 1,000-member Assembly.

The working committee is scheduled to finish its work by Oct. 2.

Thus far, the regional representatives is the only faction known to be pushing for the Assembly's special session to hear a Soeharto accountability speech.

All five factions have agreed to have six draft decrees passed in the next special session. The draft decrees are on amendments of the State Policy Guidelines and the general election date, the limitation of the presidential term, and the revocation of an MPR decree that grants the president extraordinary powers.

The other draft decrees are on the MPR's internal rules, the "main tasks" of incumbent President B.J. Habibie and his cabinet until the end of 1999, and the Assembly's special session schedule.

On Thursday, Poedjono reiterated the working committee was open to public aspirations and suggested that the public channel their aspiration through the factions.

He said the House of Representatives (DPR) building would remain open, but he begged for the aspirations to be channeled "in an orderly fashion" as it would be impossible to receive "hundreds of people" delivering their demands all at the same time.

In an apparent reference to students who on Monday staged a day-long protest in front of the DPR building, Poedjono mentioned the "rule" that only delegations of 15 people would be allowed to meet with the legislators.

Separately, Armed Forces (ABRI) Chief of Sociopolitical Affairs Lt. Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono reminded that public demands must not create fresh problems.

"We all have to realize...that our priority is to solve the economic crisis so our country can be saved," he said as quoted by Antara as saying after the opening of the working committee's session.

"Political aspirations and expression must be made without creating new problems...without creating unrest," said Susilo, who is the chief of ABRI faction in the People's Consultative Assembly.

Working committee member Fahmi Idris hinted the impossibility of summoning Soeharto to the special session to give his account as it would provoke a "dispute" within the Assembly, many of whose members were handpicked by Soeharto.

"It will stir up a dispute if a (former) president has to give his accountability address before his (former) aides, who actually were the people who executed his (Soeharto's) policies," he argued, as quoted by Antara.

Fahmi, who is also minister of manpower, speculated that even if such an account hearing were held, the former aides would not treat it objectively.

In a related development on Thursday, Habibie restated his pledge that he would stick to his laid-out political agenda to have a general election by next May.

He hinted that all necessary laws and facilities required for a free and fair election would be ready on time. Habibie has promised that he will have the bills ready for public debate this month.

The government had earlier promised to submit the bills to the House of Representatives on Thursday, but failed to do so.

After meeting with Habibie at Merdeka Palace, a representative of the association of the offspring of the leaders of the Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) Moslem organization, Hilmi Muhammadiyah, said: "About the electoral system, Pak Habibie offered a district system and the Armed Forces will have 55 representatives (in the DPR)." (prb/aan)