PDI-P legislators free on Akbar

JAKARTA: President Megawati Soekarnoputri's Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan) said on Wednesday it would allow its legislators to make up their own minds about the fate of convicted fraudster Akbar Tandjung, the House of Representatives speaker.

"The (PDI Perjuangan) faction in the House will not intervene in the issue of Akbar Tandjung. We support the process, not the substance," PDI Perjuangan faction chairman Roy B. B. Janis said after presiding over a faction meeting.

Some members of PDI Perjuangan were among the more than 100 legislators who signed a petition demanding Akbar be suspended from the House after he was sentenced to three-years jail for corruption.

Akbar has not been jailed pending the outcome of an appeal.

PDI Perjuangan legislator Dwi Ria Latifa helped spearhead the petition against Akbar, who is also chairman of the former ruling Golkar Party.

The signatories also include legislators from the National Awakening Party (PKB) and the National Mandate Party (PAN).

Roy refrained from joining the mounting calls for Akbar to step aside, but said the status of Akbar as the House speaker was "a matter of morality".

"All House members want their leader clean," Roy said. --JP