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)