MPR tasks Ad Hoc for special session

MPR tasks Ad Hoc for special session

JAKARTA (JP): The People's Consultative Assembly's Working
Committee decided on Friday not to establish special committees,
instead assigning its Ad Hoc subcommittees to make preparations
for the special session.

The Ad Hoc subcommittees will start their meetings on June 7
to prepare draft decrees in anticipation of decisions that will
be made during the plenary session.

"The Ad Hoc subcommittees will effectively work from June 7
until July 24, to make all preparations, including the special
session's main agenda," Amien said in the Working Committee's
plenary session here on Friday.

He said the Ad Hoc subcommittees would prepare at least three
draft decrees relating to the President's impeachment,
appointment of a new president and election of a new vice
president.

"Such decrees are needed in anticipation of the possible
decisions the Assembly could make during the special session," he
said, adding that all materials, including the draft decrees and
the special session's agenda, would be endorsed in the
committee's plenary session on July 24.

Responding to the call for a hastened special session, Amien
said after the meeting that the Assembly had no plans to hasten
the plenary session because it was against the Constitution.

"The MPR is making preparations for the special session in
accordance with the 2000 MPR Decree on special sessions and its
internal rules, and it has no constitutional reason to hasten it.
Under such a standard situation, it is impossible for the
Assembly to hasten the special session because it is against the
Constitution," he said.

The Working Committee also decided to convene a plenary
session on June 7 to listen to factions' general views on the
special session's agenda, as they are currently divided over the
issue.

Major factions said the special session's agenda would ask
President Abdurrahman to provide accountability for the
government's administration, while the National Awakening Party
(PKB) and Love the Nation Democratic Party (PDKB) factions were
of the opinion that the special session's agenda should ask the
President to account for the House's two memorandums of censure.

"The Assembly's main agenda in the special session will be to
ask for the President's account of his alleged involvement in
Bulogate and Bruneigate, two financial scandals for which the
House has censured the President," Ali Masjkur Musa of the PKB
faction said.

He said that, to be consistent, the Ad Hoc Committees should
also prepare a draft decree on political compromise because it
would be possible for the President to reach a political
compromise with major parties in the Assembly.

The Attorney General's Office stated earlier this week that
the President was not involved in the two scandals.

President Abdurrahman Wahid stated on Friday that the special
session had no right to demand a statement of presidential
accountability as the 1945 Constitution stipulated clearly that
the President only had to account to the MPR at the end of his
term of office.

"Just ignore it ... it has only been mentioned by a couple of
people. We should find another way to get to the truth," he
remarked during an interview with TVRI state television .

"The special session can go ahead, but I remind you that it
should not upset the relationship between the President and the
House and it should not demand presidential accountability,"
Abdurrahman added.

But the MPR is determined to ask the President to make a
statement of accountability at the upcoming special session.

Should his accountability statement be rejected, the MPR will
then elect a new president.

Vice President Megawati Soekarnoputri, who is also the
chairwoman of the largest party in the House, the Indonesian
Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan), looks set to
succeed Abdurrahman as president.

As part of the effort to save his presidency, Abdurrahman has
tried to offer a constitutional delegation of power to Megawati
and at the same time has threatened to declare a state of
emergency.

Megawati, however, rejected Abdurrahman's offer, while the
Military top brass and ministers have poured cold water on his
idea of declaring a state of emergency. (rms/dja)