PDIP Politician Bambang Pacul Questions Prabowo's 'Assignment' of MPR Speaker to Iran

Deputy Speaker of the People’s Consultative Assembly (MPR) Bambang Wuryanto, also known as Bambang Pacul, has criticised the use of the term ‘assignment’ by President Prabowo Subianto in sending MPR Speaker Ahmad Muzani to attend the funeral of former Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. According to him, the relationship between the President and the MPR leadership, as fellow high state institutions, does not recognise a mechanism of assignment but is rather consultative in nature. The statement was made by Bambang when asked for his response to the news that the President had assigned the MPR Speaker to attend the agenda in Iran. He admitted he had not yet received information regarding the matter. ‘I have not been informed. But, if the President assigned the MPR Speaker, I think the mechanism is not like that,’ Bambang told reporters at the Parliament Complex in Senayan, Jakarta, on Tuesday. The PDI Perjuangan politician explained that the President and the MPR are both high state institutions, so their relationship is consultative. ‘Yes, because the mechanism of the relationship between the MPR and the President is as fellow high state institutions,’ he said. When asked whether the President could not assign the MPR Speaker, Bambang explained that a distinction must be made between a person’s capacity as a party cadre and their position as a leader of a state institution.