PDI-P opposes giving more power to MPR

JAKARTA (JP): A president should be allowed to serve his full five-year term in office without any interruptions, not even from the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR), the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan) said on Thursday.

Outlining its position for next week's MPR gathering, PDI Perjuangan, as the largest faction in the Assembly, plans to flex its muscles against attempts to give the MPR even more power than it has now to replace the president.

"A fixed five-year term guarantees that a president can not be disturbed by an obligation to give a progress report before the MPR (every year)," PDI Perjuangan faction chairman Heri Akhmadi announced.

The working committee of the MPR filed a last-minute proposal on the meeting's agenda, seeking to amend the Assembly's rules and procedures. If approved, it would allow the MPR to turn an annual meeting into a Special Session to impeach the president.

The National Awakening Party (PKB), the main political vehicle of President Abdurrahman Wahid, was defeated in opposing the motion and the matter will now be discussed by the MPR, which begins its meeting on Monday.

The motion, proposed by 27 MPR members, somewhat contradicted the assurances given by Assembly Speaker Amien Rais and House of Representatives Speaker Akbar Tandjung on Tuesday, who said they had no intention of turning the annual meeting into a special meeting.

PDI Perjuangan said relations between the president, as the head of state, government and other state institutions, should ensure there were mutual checks and balances.

A president can only be impeached by the MPR if he or she has betrayed the state, violated the Constitution or committed a serious crime, Heri said.

The annual MPR meeting should be limited to listening to progress reports by the president and other high state institutions and to make recommendations based on those reports, he said.

The party supports the amendment to the Assembly's internal rulings and procedures on giving the MPR the right to make recommendations at the annual meeting, he said.

Heri said the party hoped that the Annual Session becomes a benchmark of democracy to reach a civilized nation.

This will be the inaugural annual meeting of the MPR as the Assembly seeks to begin a tradition of closely monitoring the performance of the government. In the past, the MPR met once every five years to hear the accountability speech of the president and then to elect the president.

Another major contentious point during the 12-day gathering next week will be about the proposed second amendment to the 1945 Constitution, including a call to hold a direct presidential election starting in 2004.

PDI Perjuangan insisted, however, on the current system in which the MPR elects the president and vice president.

The party believes that a direct election is not an absolute system to win the people's legitimacy, Heri said.

"The Assembly is chosen by the people, so whoever is elected president reflects the people's choice," he said.

PDI Perjuangan is almost alone in defending the present system, which also deprived the election of its chairwoman Megawati Soekarnoputri last October.

Political analysts believe that Megawati, whose PDI Perjuangan emerged as the winner in the June 1999 general election, would have won the presidential election in October under a direct system.

Separately, Arifin Panigoro, a PDI Perjuangan legislator, said he was optimistic that economic and political reforms would continue under President Abdurrahman's leadership.

Arifin, who is also a businessman, said Abdurrahman should be given a chance to resolve the economic problems, noting that the administration was not clear about its economic priorities.

"We just need time to cope with the economic matters," he told a seminar on the prospect of next week's MPR meeting, organized by the Institute for the Development of the Economy and Finance.

Arifin criticized MPR Speaker Amien Rais, who addressed the forum earlier, for giving a thumbs-down to the President's first 10 months in office and for suggesting that he should resign if the situation got any worse.

Arifin insisted that progress had been made since the days of president Soeharto and that the process had not yet come to an end.

He dismissed the negative attitude often expressed about next week's MPR annual gathering, the first of its kind.

"I think positively. We have to follow the session," he said. (jun/01)