President to respond to House censure on March 29
President to respond to House censure on March 29
JAKARTA (JP): The House of Representatives will hold a plenary
session on March 29 to hear President Abdurrahman "Gus Dur"
Wahid's response to its memorandum of censure.
Abdul Kholiq Achmad, the secretary of the National Awakening
Party (PKB) faction, said the date of the plenary session was
decided on by the House's consultative body during a meeting here
on Thursday.
"All of the factions in the meeting agreed to set (the plenary
session) for March 29," he said.
The 11 factions in the House will evaluate the President's
response to the memorandum of censure to decide whether it is
necessary to issue a second memorandum.
The House censured the President on Feb. 1 for his alleged
involvement in the Bulog and Brunei financial scandals.
The President has three months to reply to the censure, after
which the House, if not satisfied with the response, can issue a
second memorandum.
The President would then have one month to respond to this
second censure. Following this, the House could propose the
People's Consultative Assembly hold a special session to
deliberate possible impeachment of the President.
Kholig Achmad also said on Thursday the House's consultative
body had scheduled a plenary session for March 30 to allow
factions to respond to a proposal by a coalition of six factions
to expedite the second memorandum of censure.
"Our faction will certainly reject the proposal since the
(deadline) for the first memorandum is May 1," he said, insisting
the House could not decide to expedite the issuance of the second
memorandum of censure.
Meanwhile, the deputy secretary-general of the Indonesian
Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan), Pramono Anung,
denied Vice President Megawati Soekarnoputri, who is also the
chairwoman of the party, was supervising the team drafting the
President's response to the first memorandum of censure.
"The first memorandum was issued because of the President's
personal problems and does not concern state issues. As Vice
President, Ibu Mega is only involved in state business," Pramono
said on Thursday.
Separately, the chairman of the Golkar Party faction in the
House, Syamsul Mu'arif, said on Thursday the best solution to the
current political turbulence was collaboration and
reconciliation.
"It is the House's right to submit a second memorandum because
there is no regulation stipulating that we have to wait for the
President's answer before issuing the second memorandum.
"But we have to be realistic here. Are we really ready for Gus
Dur to be removed from office? No, we are not ready. If he steps
down the country will still be falling apart because of the
already deteriorating economic and political situation," he said.
(02/edt/dja/rms)