Petition against Akbar ready by Monday, say legislators
Petition against Akbar ready by Monday, say legislators
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Legislators are planning to start the first day of next week by
delivering to House of Representatives (DPR) Speaker Akbar
Tandjung a petition to suspend him, marking the first official
move in what could become a political standoff with Akbar's
Golkar Party.
Susono Yusuf of the National Awakening Party (PKB) said the
petition would be ready by Monday.
"No matter how many signatures we'll have, we are going to
hand over the petition on Monday," Susono said on Friday. He is
one of the legislators who initiated the petition a week ago.
Susono declined to say how long the list of signatures had
grown since about 70 legislators already signed it as of
Thursday. The target was to get 150 legislators on the list.
"We don't know whether we'll achieve 150, let's hope so," he
said.
Susono and a small band of legislators are drumming up support
to suspend Akbar, after a court sentenced him to three years in
jail for corruption. Akbar, maintaining his innocence, appealed
the guilty verdict and remains the House speaker.
His trial has already been lambasted by the public as a farce.
The Golkar chairman was caught giving conflicting statements over
his role in a graft case involving Rp 40 billion (about US$4.48
million) in state funds.
Now convicted by the district court, Akbar refuses to resign
or temporarily relinquish his position until he has exhausted all
legal means, possibly up to the Supreme Court and the President.
"The question we've asked ourselves is; do we want to be led
by him?" said Dwi Ria Lativa of the Indonesian Democratic Party
of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan) earlier this week. She called the
petition a moral move, but was aware that others, especially
Golkar would not be happy.
The petition's fate will be decided at a plenary meeting where
House factions will state their responses to the suspension call.
But even if the list exceeds half of the House's 500 members,
the road to Akbar's suspension may be bumpy indeed.
Before the petition goes to the plenary meeting, it may end up
being pushed aside by the House steering committee, which sets
the schedules for such meetings.
Golkar, the House's second largest party, may throw in its
weight to call the meeting unimportant and thus delaying it.
This strategy worked when the committee delayed for months
plans to hold a plenary meeting that decided whether they should
investigate Akbar's role in the graft case.
The meeting eventually took place in July with PDI Perjuangan
essentially swinging the vote in Akbar's favor.
Analysts said the shaky alliance between Golkar and PDI
Perjuangan were important for maintaining political stability.