President to survive interpellation

Legislators plan to exercise their interpellation rights and question President Abdurrahman (Gus Dur) Wahid over his controversial policies. Political science lecturer Arbi Sanit of the University of Indonesia shares his views on the possible impact the questioning could have on Indonesian politics.

Question: Do you think that the DPR will appropriately use its rarely used interpellation right?

Answer: Not this time because the issue to be discussed will merely be the President's recent firing of two ministers (Yusuf Kalla of industry and trade and Laksamana Sukardi of investment and state enterprises) on charges that they were involved in corrupt, collusive or nepotistic (KKN) practices, which the two have so far denied.

That means that the House will be able to be used by the two former ministers to exercise their legislative rights for their personal interests. Such rights must be used only to defend the interests of the general public.

... Some parties fear that the use of such rights might cause the fall of President Gus Dur (because of the rare use of the right) whereas our presidential system makes it impossible for the House to bring down the President.

Can House members extend their questions to cover other issues?

That's possible. Because the public has been involved in discourses on several political issues, some House members, if they could not override the President's firing of the former ministers, might look for popular support by extending their questions to cover Gur Dur's repeated proposals on lifting the 1966 Provisional People's Consultative Assembly's (MPR) decree on the banning of the now defunct Indonesian Communist Party (PKI).

They might be afraid of being considered too weak in exercising their interpellation rights otherwise.

What could happen in terms of a follow-up of the planned interpellation session?

House members, if dissatisfied with the President's testimony, may ask him to show evidence proving his allegations and then establish a special team to investigate them further.

If he cannot produce any evidence, he may be accused of having taken arbitrary action against the two former ministers and of violating democratic principles.

The House could then urge the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) to hold an extraordinary session to impeach the President or to lodge a vote of no-confidence.

What are your feelings regarding legislators of the "axis force" of Muslim-oriented groupings supporting the interpellation plan, originally proposed by House members of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan) and the Golkar factions?

Based on information I've received from House members, axis force legislators support the proposal because they want to follow up questions of Gus Dur's allegations involving the two former ministers with questions focusing on rumors that Gus Dur was involved in KKN practices.

The planned interpellation session will be used merely as a first step leading to the impeachment of the President.

Do you think Gur Dur's political position will weaken because of that?

I think Gus Dur will be able to overcome the problem. He will make every effort to prevent the possibility of being impeached.

Does it also mean that relations have broken down between Gus Dur and the axis force, which first promoted him to become president in the past MPR general session?

It seems so. The rift was caused mainly by strong allegations that Gus Dur is involved in KKN practices.

Do you think such political development will benefit the country?

If the planned interpellation session leads to the impeachment of the President through an MPR assembly, that will be very bad for the nation.

Furthermore, the involvement of axis force legislators in the planned interpellation proposal indicates that they support (alleged) political corruption sponsored by two former ministers, who are trying to encourage House members to exercise their legislative rights against the President for their own personal interests.

For the sake of constitutional interests, it would be better for the axis force legislators to use their own rights to question the President on the allegations of his involvement in KKN practices.

Do you personally foresee the possibility of MPR turning its August general session into a forum that will enable it to impeach the President?

No. Suppose the President had violated democratic principles in firing his two former ministers, he could not be impeached because such a violation cannot be regarded as a violation against the Constitution of 1945 or the Guidelines of State Policies.

And suppose Gus Dur could not deny allegations that he or his close associates were involved in KKN practices, proving this would take a very long time.

So, we can say that this political exercise is little more than a demonstration of panic on the part of our political elite and has no clear end. (Rikza Abdullah)