PDI-P tells Mega not to sign ex-banker discharges

Fabiola Desy Unidjaja, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan) said on Tuesday that the President should not sign the release and discharge papers for debtors who have paid off their debts.

President Megawati Soekarnoputri, who is also the party's chairwoman, has come under strong pressure to sign papers that would release former bankers from criminal charges after abusing Bank Indonesia emergency liquidity funds.

Speaking at a news conference organized after the party's weekly meeting, Pramono Anung said it would be unfair to hold the President responsible for such an unpopular decision.

"We should prevent the possibility of a government decision backfiring against the President afterward," Pramono said.

Megawati decided last week to provide release and discharge papers for the country's bad debtors who had paid off their debts.

That decision constituted a step backward as the government in March announced it would get tough with bad debtors and imprison all uncooperative tycoons for having misused Rp 138 trillion (about US$15.3billion) in bank emergency liquidity loans during the monetary crisis in 1997.

State Minister of National Development Planning Kwik Kian Gie explained that the March decision was invalid as only the President had the right make such a policy, not the Cabinet.

"The country's political system is presidential so it is up to the President to decide, and therefore the Cabinet meeting decision in March was invalid," he said last week.

But according to Parmono, the decision of whether to release bad debtors from all criminal charges should be made by a Cabinet meeting and that the President should not take sole responsibility.

On Monday, Vice President Hamzah Haz said that Megawati may delegate to her Cabinet ministers the authority to sign the papers but the responsibility still rested with the President.

"The signing of the release and discharge order can be carried out by the coordinating minister for the economy or the attorney general, but the one responsible for this is still the President," Hamzah said.

"According to the law, the debts come under the jurisdiction of civil law so that a resolution should come under this category. This (civil law), however, cannot erase criminal aspects if these are found.

"So in this case, legal principles must be upheld," Hamzah said.

Pramono suspected that attempts were being made to provide political reasons to attack Megawati in the future.

"It is obvious that they are trying to make the President responsible for the unpopular decision," he said.

"Let the Cabinet decide who should sign and be responsible for issuing the release and discharge papers," Pramono stressed.