President, House face off on TNI issue

Fabiola Desy Unidjaja and Kurniawan Hari, The Jakarta Post/Jakarta

House of Representative speakers and President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono met for the first time on Friday amid tension between the two sides over who should lead the Indonesian Military (TNI).

The dispute over the controversial establishment of House commission leaders was also top of the agenda in the 30-minute talks, which was not in Susilo's schedule for the day until the last minute.

Agung told a post-meeting conference the President had agreed to accept the House's intention to continue the nomination of Gen. Ryamizard Ryacudu as TNI chief, replacing Gen. Endriartono Sutarto by former president Megawati Soekarnoputri: an apparent backdown from his earlier position.

"We informed the President about the establishment of the commissions in the House, including the appointment of commission leaders. We also told him some of the leadership posts remained vacant as we have allocated them to other parties," Agung said, referring to parties that supported Susilo's presidential bid in the Sept. 20 election.

Agung said the President wanted the House to begin its duties as soon as possible.

The House leaders come from parties that have vowed to build a strong opposition to the president.

Judging from his latest move, Susilo seems to be making reconciliation with the House a priority following his inauguration last week.

If Susilo has accepted the establishment of the House commission leaders it would be a blow to his own People's Coalition in the House, which has boycotted the commission election process and filed a no-confidence motion against House leaders.

Agung said the President was aware of the House's authority to continue the discussion on TNI change of guard and was likely to accept Ryamizard's appointment.

State Secretary Yusril Ihza Mahendra, who also attended the meeting, confirmed the decision.

"President Susilo is likely to appoint the same candidate for the TNI chief post, so the problem is not so critical," he said.

It remains unclear, however, whether Susilo will withdraw his letter asking House leaders to suspend talks on TNI chief succession. In the letter, Susilo said the succession would be part of his administration's comprehensive reshuffle of the armed forces leadership.

In the last days of her term, Megawati sent her own letter to House leaders, approving the resignation bid of Endriartono and appointing Ryamizard as the acting TNI chief. The House, however, could not respond as the commission mandated to discuss the matter did not yet exist.

Agung said on Friday that Endriartono remained the TNI chief until the House Commission I finished the process of Ryamizard's appointment soon.

After the meeting with House leaders, Susilo summoned Endriartono, Ryamizard, Air Force chief Marshall Chappy Hakim, Navy chief Adm. Bernard Kent Sondakh and National Police chief Gen. Da'i Bachtiar. There was no official statement on the substance of the meeting, but Endriartono said TNI official statement would be announced on Monday.