Officials undecided on Aug. 16 State of the Nation Address

Officials undecided on Aug. 16 State of the Nation Address

JAKARTA (JP): Speakers of the People's Consultative Assembly
and House of Representatives maintain that no decision has been
made on whether the "traditional" president's Aug. 16 State of
the Nation Address will be abolished.

Their reactions come despite a special committee, authorized
to schedule the August General Session of the Assembly, decided
it would not be necessary for the President to make the address
since he would be making a progress report at the Assembly
plenary session between Aug. 7 and Aug. 18.

"We will discuss it further. Just wait," Assembly Speaker
Amien Rais said on Friday.

He said the State Address is commonly found in many countries,
including the United States, in which a president talks to his or
her nation.

Meanwhile, House Speaker Akbar Tandjung also said the
abolishment of the State Address had yet to be finalized.

"We will hold a meeting with the House leadership to discuss
it. It has yet to be decided," Akbar, who is also chairman of the
Golkar Party, said.

During the years under Soeharto, the State of the Nation
Address was used as a yearly report for the Assembly, which
usually only convened once every five years.

However, with the advent of reform and a more rambunctious
House and Assembly, a plenary session is planned in August. Apart
from hearing a progress report from the President, the Assembly's
General Session is also set to ratify historic amendments to the
1945 Constitution.

The Assembly is also set to hear progress reports from the
House speaker, the Supreme Audit Agency, the Supreme Court and
the Supreme Supervisory Council.

Initially, there were proposals that the President's address
at the General Session could be an accountability speech,
however, it is now agreed that it will be a progress report in
which the 10 Assembly factions can respond to.

The Assembly scheduling committee has stressed that the
general responses will be "corrections or criticism" to the
President's report, not an acceptance or rejection.

Only the National Awakening Party, which was founded by
Abdurrahman, has rejected the proposal of a faction response,
saying that it will be used to mock the President.

The President is scheduled to present his progress report on
Aug. 7, while the factions' "general view" of his report is
scheduled for the following day.

On Aug. 9, the President is expecting to respond to the
factions' general views. (jun)