President strikes back

JAKARTA (JP): President Abdurrahman Wahid struck back at the House of Representatives (DPR) on Thursday, accusing it of betraying the 1945 Constitution and refusing to answer questions on his reasons for firing two economic ministers in April.

Gus Dur, as the President is popularly called, fulfilled the House's summons to appear for questioning, but instead of answering members' questions, he engaged them in a long lecture on his view why the House's interpellation motion is unconstitutional.

In the House's plenary session, broadcast nationwide, the President said Law no. 4/1999 on the composition and role of the House was against the Constitution and asked that it be repealed.

The interpellation motion was filed by the House to demand the President's explanations of why he fired Laksamana Sukardi and Yusuf Kalla, respectively investment minister and trade and industry minister. The House also questioned the appointment of Laksamana's successor, Rozy Munir, as allegations of impropriety against him had not been cleared.

While recognizing the President's prerogative right in appointing and replacing his Cabinet, the House questioned the President's claim -- made in a closed door meeting with House leaders shortly after the dismissals -- that the two ministers were involved in corrupt practices.

Both men have called the accusations slanderous.

After his tirade about the interpellation right, the President told House members that he could not answer the five written questions submitted by the House to him, saying he could not respond to confidential matters that had been leaked.

"I can assure you that the leak did not come from my office," he said, adding that "This problem will be over at this point".

While some House members were aghast at his response, others booed the President. A small band of his supporters cheered and clapped.

Gus Dur, who is almost blind, took the podium briefly to give a run down of his response before asking Secretary of State Djohan Effendi to read the written response.

Speculation

There has been abundant speculation about who would read the text of Abdurrahman's speech, with Vice President Megawati Soekarnoputri mentioned as most likely because she read the President's budget speech in January. But the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan), which Megawati chairs, urged her not to take on the task because of a possible conflict of interest.

PDI Perjuangan joined forces with Golkar to begin the interpellation motion, because Laksamana was a minister from PDI Perjuangan while Yusuf was from Golkar.

The President insisted that he was not under any obligation to come and fulfill the House's summons. He said he turned up, nevertheless, to show that all state institutions must respect one another if democracy in Indonesia is to work smoothly.

"I have been asked by many people not to come to the House," he said. "I came, nevertheless, in consideration of the democracy in this country."

The interpellation right is guaranteed under the 1999 law but unlike a parliamentary democratic system, the House does not have the right to initiate a motion of no confidence.

This has been a sticking point in the debate ahead of the President's appearance at the House on Thursday, a point again reiterated by the President in his response.

"This is a presidential system of government," he said.

The House cannot bring down a president nor can the president dissolve the House, he said.

"The president is not accountable to the House. The president will give his account at the end of his term to the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR)," he said.

"The president, if he meets the House's summons under the interpellation right, could be accused of violating the 1945 Constitution," he said.

Two weeks ago, Abdurrahman accused the House's major factions of using the interpellation right to unseat him, and believed that it was a systematic campaign that would peak when he gives a progress report of his first 10 months in office to MPR in August.

The President pointed his finger at legislators who leaked his comments from the April closed-door consultation for causing the furor.

"If I comment on something which cannot be opened to the public, I would be compounding the mistakes of those had violated the regulations and ethics of the meetings, and it would complicate the matter further," he said in his 17 page-written speech.

This was the second time that Abdurrahman has been summoned under the House's interpellation right.

In November, he was taken to task by the House for his decision to dissolve the Ministry of Information and Ministry of Social Services upon taking office in October.

At the time, he did not quibble over the use of the interpellation right, but angered House members when he described them as a bunch of "kindergarten students".

Unlike the November meeting, the President did not make any attempt to crack jokes in his responses.

The atmosphere was tense and Gus Dur may even have set off another polemic when he accused the House of treating some of his ministers as "convicts" during their hearings.

There were some light moments during the plenary session, which went on for more than four hours including a one-hour lunch break, but none came from Gus Dur.

One such occurrence came when two legislators addressed Megawati as Ibu President (Mrs. President).

House Speaker Akbar Tandjung, chairing the session, banged the gavel too hard when opening the meeting, conceding that he had little sleep the previous night because of a lengthy meeting with his Golkar Party.

Gus Dur appeared to have dozed off on several occasions during the hearing.

"Mr. President I have to shout Merdeka (freedom) just to wake you up," legislator Permadi said before raising his question.

The President burst into laughter when a legislator mistakenly said he had different pendapatan (income), when he wanted to say he had different pendapat (opinion) from the President.

The President could not hide his tiredness when legislator Ekky Sjahruddin persuaded him to say a few words before leaving the House.

In all, there were 24 House members who commented or asked questions of the President but Akbar cut short the meeting just after 2 p.m. saying that the President had other business.

The President agreed to respond to the comments and questions in writing to be submitted by late Friday at the latest.

Laksamana who attended the session as a PDI Perjuangan legislator, said Gus Dur did not give substantial answers to what he insisted were simple questions.

"I'm not disappointed, but I regret that the matter could not be solved immediately," he told reporters.

Laksamana said he had forgiven Gus Dur for making the slanderous accusation.

Yusuf Kalla told the SCTV private TV station that the President failed to prove his allegation. (emb/jun/prb)