President to survive interpellation

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)