President willing to meet with MPR leaders
President willing to meet with MPR leaders
JAKARTA (JP): President Abdurrahman Wahid is willing to meet
with leaders of the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR), a
presidential spokesman said on Thursday.
"The President is always willing to meet almost any
representative of the people or any person as long as the purpose
is clear ... but he has not received any formal request yet, so
he is not able to give a formal reply," presidential spokesman
Wimar Witoelar told The Jakarta Post in a telephone interview.
The statement came after MPR chairman Amien Rais said on
Wednesday that the Assembly leaders were seeking a meeting with
Abdurrahman "to provide inputs on the latest conditions in the
country."
The move followed an announcement by Amien, a staunch critic
of Abdurrahman, that Assembly leaders were dropping a plan to
precipitate a special MPR session to impeach the President as the
move lacked a constitutional basis.
Amien did not say when the leaders would hold the informal
meeting but said that the inputs to be given to Abdurrahman would
be discussed and prepared in a consultative meeting on Wednesday
next week.
Earlier on Thursday, Wimar said the President had nearly
finished preparing a reply to the memorandum issued by the House
of Representatives (DPR) which censured Abdurrahman over two
financial scandals.
"Basically, the reply is already finished," Wimar told
reporters.
He added that Coordinating Minister for Political, Social and
Security Affairs Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and Defense Minister
Mahfud M.D. were putting the finishing touches on the President's
explanation.
Wimar said it was up to the DPR to decide how Abdurrahman
would present his response. He gave no more details.
Mahfud said earlier in the week that Abdurrahman's reply would
be limited to the Bulog and Brunei scandals.
The DPR censured Abdurrahman on Feb. 1 after a special
committee investigating the two scandals, dubbed Buloggate and
Bruneigate, found that the President may have had a role in both.
Buloggate was the alleged misappropriation of Rp 35 billion
(US$ 3.5 million) in funds of the State Logistics Agency (Bulog),
while the Bruneigate centered at the alleged misuse of US$2
million donation from the sultan of Brunei. (byg)