PPP initiates plan to summon Habibie

PPP initiates plan to summon Habibie

JAKARTA (JP): The United Development Party (PPP) faction
initiated on Friday a motion to have President B.J. Habibie
explain to the House of Representatives the controversial tapped
conversation he had with Attorney General A.M. Ghalib.

The faction prepared a summons, to be dated March 1, according
to PPP legislator Lukman Hakim Saifudin. According to the House
internal rules, at least 10 legislators must submit a written
request before the House leaders may summon the President.

The PPP legislators had been very critical of Habibie's tapped
conversation, which they believed proved Habibie was not serious
in pursuing the case against former president Soeharto. One of
the PPP leaders even suggested that Habibie and Ghalib were
making a farce of the investigation.

Over the past few days, legislators of the dominant Golkar and
the Armed Forces (ABRI) factions have agreed to question the
President.

Meanwhile, constitutional law expert Yusril Ihza Mahendra said
only Habibie's formal clarification on the matter before the
House would end the controversy.

"That is the departure point. The individual concerned
(should) state whether the substance of the (tapped) conversation
was true or false," Yusril told Antara on Thursday.

Yusril, also chairman of poll contender the Crescent Star
Party, said questioning the President could pave the way for an
impeachment by the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR).

"There are procedures to follow (before an impeachment)...
but it could happen," Yusril said.

Police, rather than investigating the alleged phone bugging,
had continued their probe into the alleged dissemination of false
information by the print and broadcasting media.

On Friday, police questioned three news directors from a
private television station, a radio station and a local
newspapers over the recording.

The three, who were summoned as witnesses to the National
Police headquarters in Kebayoran Baru in South Jakarta, were Riza
Primadi of SCTV, Bambang G. Parindra of Pro2 FM and Jasofi
Bahtiar of Merdeka daily.

On Tuesday, National Police detectives also attempted to
obtain information from news directors of private television
stations ANteve and RCTI and the radio broadcasting station
Sonora.

Meanwhile, the Committee for Press Freedom said in a
statement: "The Committee urges the law and security apparatus to
focus their probe on discovering those involved in the tapping of
the President's phone call, rather than diverting attention by
summoning journalists to hear their stories. The summons are
threatening the freedom of the press."

The statement was signed by senior journalists and media
executives.

Separately, PPP legislator Daniel Tanjung, said his faction
was insistent they would pursue Habibie since many of his
statements have been controversial and were confusing the public.

Daniel cited Habibie's recent account of the May 22 evening
incident, in which the President claimed to have been surrounded
by troopers under the command of former chief of the Army
Strategic Reserve Command Lt. Gen. (ret) Prabowo Subianto, a
version of events that both Prabowo and Wiranto disputed.

Habibie has confirmed that the voice in the tapped
conversation is his, but Ghalib's denial continues to provoke
controversy.

During the past 32 years, the House had used its right to
question the President at least five times.

On July 5, 1980, for instance, a summons signed by 19
legislators -- 17 of whom were PPP legislators -- was sent to
then president Soeharto.

Then vice president Adam Malik met the House on Soeharto's
behalf.

The questioning was the result of a controversial statement
made by then president Soeharto in March 1980 at Pekanbaru, Riau.
The substance of his statement was that rather than allowing the
1945 Constitution to be changed, he would kidnap a number of MPR
members who sought to change the document. (emf/aan)