President puts House rift behind
JAKARTA (JP): President Abdurrahman "Gus Dur" Wahid put his overnight quarrel with House of Representatives (DPR) over his alleged graft behind him as he invited legislators on Tuesday to a post-Idul Fitri gathering this weekend, two days before they are scheduled to announce their findings.
"The President has asked me to announce that the DPR members are invited to a post-holiday gathering here on Saturday," presidential spokesman Wimar Witoelar told reporters.
"The President considers that they (the legislators) all are his friends and brothers."
Muslims in Indonesia traditionally hold a get-together to express their forgiveness for each other, after celebrating Idul Fitri with their own families.
Wimar was quick to add that the reception had nothing to do with Monday's hearing at the Jakarta Convention Center, saying that "the gathering has been scheduled for a while".
Abdurrahman's abrupt decision to leave the hearing enraged members of the House special committee with some of them suggesting that the President was impolite.
Abdurrahman defended his action saying that the committee was illegal and that it could not provide an answer on Monday as to whether it was a political or legal forum.
The committee is seeking to question Abdurrahman about the fraudulent withdrawal of Rp 35 billion (US$ 3.3 million) from the State Logistics Agency (Bulog) by his masseur and the fate of a US$2 million donation from the Sultan of Brunei, which the President claims was a personal gift.
The committee is scheduled to complete its investigation on Thursday and reveal its findings to the public on Jan. 29.
Wimar said on Tuesday that Abdurrahman "holds no grudges" against the committee members.
He could not say, however, whether Abdurrahman had invited all 500 members of the DPR, saying only that the invitation was "not just for DPR leaders".
Previous governments also followed the practice.
When opening a pencak silat martial arts congress later in the day, Gus Dur played down the controversy between his government and the DPR, and instead asked for better cooperation between the two sides.
He said the government and the legislature differed only in their interpretation of the constitution.
"We maintain the use of the principle of caution and the courage to say what is right," he said.
"The government is taking the stance of defending what is contained in the 1945 constitution and does not care who it will have to face," he added.
Separately, the chairman of the House's special committee investigating the two financial scandals, Bachtiar Chamsyah, said Gus Dur was the last witness to be heard after months of probe.
He said the committee was intensifying discussions in order to complete the investigation on time.
The committee's deputy chairman Didi Supriyanto said his team was comparing its findings and the relevant documents. He added that the committee would come up with a simple conclusion in order to avoid prolonged debate when it is presented to the House plenary session on Monday.
Several reliable sources on the special committee told The Jakarta Post on Tuesday that the committee would come to the conclusion that the President was involved in the two scandals, abused his power and told lies.
The President has denied his involvement in the disbursement of Rp 35 billion from the Bulog foundation while several witnesses have testified to the President's knowledge of the funds' disbursement.
Separately, the National Awakening Party (PKB) faction in the House of Representatives called on the special committee to unveil an objective report on its investigations in order to avoid heightened political tension in the city.
"The present attempt by the special committee to reach a conclusion that will discredit President Abdurrahman Wahid and his government will raise new political tension and cause a high social cost that we will have to pay in the transition period toward a democracy," Taufikurrahman Saleh, chairman of the PKB faction, told a press conference here on Tuesday.
Taufikurrahman said his faction would likely walk out of the plenary session if the special committee concludes that the President is involved in the scandals.
"The special committee is established to seek the truth and not to try the President," he said.
He implied that thousands of Nadlatul Ulama-affiliated Banser civilian guards and members of the Ansor youth organization from outside Jakarta would throng the House compound to counter antigovernment demonstrations during the plenary session on Monday.
"Our faction is against any mass mobilization and we have prohibited Banser members to come to Jakarta. But, they will likely force their way to Jakarta anyway," he said. (byg/rms)