PDI-P faction asks Council speaker Edy to step down
JAKARTA (JP): The Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan) faction in the City Council demanded on Tuesday that Edy Waluyo resign as speaker over what it termed an illegitimate plenary session held over the weekend to approve the draft city budget.
"The speaker is not cooperative. We will propose his replacement and announce our stance on the draft budget on Jan. 8," the faction's chairman, Audi I.Z. Tambunan, said.
Audi said Edy failed to heed the faction's wishes, particularly its request to push back the meeting until mid- January from its original schedule of Dec. 22 because of what it said was a lack of time to deliberate the many issues surrounding the draft budget.
The faction officially wrote to Edy asking for the delay, but instead he allowed a secret vote that resulted in the plenary session being rescheduled for Dec. 30.
During the session, the council approved the Rp 7.49 trillion (US$788.42 million) 2001 budget proposal despite a walkout by the 19 PDI Perjuangan councillors registered for the session.
PDI Perjuangan has the most number of representatives in the 84-strong City Council with 30, followed by the United Development Party (PPP) and the National Mandate Party (PAN) with 13 seats each.
The majority faction has accused the city administration of ignoring the needs of the people in the budget by proposing a greater amount of routine expenditures compared to development expenditures.
Minor changes have been made to the final draft budget, with routine expenditures being reduced to Rp 4.98 trillion from Rp 5.02 trillion and development expenditures increased to Rp 2.51 trillion from Rp 2.47 trillion.
PDI Perjuangan faction deputy chairman Agung Iman Soemanto said Edy also failed to heed the faction's request for a break prior to a decision being made on the draft budget during Saturday's session.
"We reminded the speaker that during the review of the draft city budget he offered a flexible schedule. The speaker himself also announced that the endorsement of the draft would be delayed until mid-January," he said.
Another PDI Perjuangan councillor, Binsar Tambunan, said the session did not fulfill the quorum because only 33 councillors registered for the plenary meeting.
But the spokesman for the City Council, Rubingan, said Saturday session was attended by 45 councillors.
The City Council's internal rules stipulate that a simple majority of 43 councillors is needed to make a vote valid.
Binsar also said the decision was taken without hearing the opinion of all factions, which was the stated purpose of the plenary session.
Separately, a legal expert from Semarang's Diponegoro University, Satjipto Rahardjo, said the council's approval of the draft city budget was valid so long as it was made in accordance with the existing regulations.
"Actually, the PDI Perjuangan faction didn't need to walk out of the meeting. They should have just submitted a written note during the meeting acknowledging their difference of opinion. That would have been more elegant," he told The Jakarta Post.
When asked about the mechanisms of decision-making in the council, Satjipto said Indonesian culture was geared toward deliberation to reach a unanimous decision rather than voting. (07)