PDI-P under fire for 'illogical' protest

JAKARTA (JP): Government and parliamentary watchdogs slammed the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan) faction at the City Council on Friday, for its walkout during a plenary session which endorsed the city's draft budget last week.

Speaking at a joint press conference, coordinators of the Jakarta Parliament Watch (Japwa), Parliament Watch Indonesia and the Jakarta Governance Watch said the move was "illogical".

Japwa's coordinator, Ivan Parapat, said the walkout reflected the faction's inability to complete its review of the city draft budget on time.

"Such political behavior reveals no sense of virtue, which may hamper democracy in the City Council," Ivan said.

He said the largest faction in the council, which holds 30 out of 88 seats, should convey its disagreement without causing any conflicts of interest.

"PDI Perjuangan should not place their political priorities above those of the people. They can have a different opinion, but they must express it in a logical manner" he said.

The joint statement came in the wake of repeated accusations from the PDI Perjuangan faction over what it termed an illegitimate plenary session, held to approve the Rp 7.49 trillion (about US$788.42 million) 2001 budget proposal.

The faction also demanded the resignation of City Council Speaker Edy Waluyo over alleged rule violations.

Tom Pasaribu of Parliament Watch Indonesia hinted that the 19 councilors attending the session did not register their attendance at the session, giving them no rights to speak during the meeting.

"The walkout indicated a hidden motive from PDI Perjuangan to slow down the approval of the draft city budget," Tom said.

Tom said PDI Perjuangan should have learned from other factions -- the National Mandate Party (PAN) and the Justice Party (PK) -- which asked for a delay of the meeting through a written notice.

"PDI Perjuangan should have followed the rule to demonstrate a good example to the public," Tom added.

PDI Perjuangan has planned to present its response to the draft budget on Jan. 8, but Amir Hamzah of Jakarta Governance Watch said the move lacked legal basis now that the budget had already been endorsed by the Council.

"The decision was an expression of selfishness, but with low bargaining power, in an attempt to make the city administration heed their demands for change," said Amir.

The faction had questioned the draft budget for allocating more funds to routine expenses than development expenditure.

Amir said PDI Perjuangan's reply to the draft budget would only be accepted as a note.

He added that he could accept the city budget, adding that several items within routine expenditure could perhaps be used to improve public services. (07)