President's accountability a must: PDIP
JAKARTA (JP): The Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan) is pressing ahead with the original agenda of the People's Consultative Assembly special session, namely to ask President Abdurrahman Wahid to account for his government's poor performance, a party executive said on Tuesday.
Chairman of the PDI Perjuangan faction in the Assembly, Sophan Sophiaan, said after the party's weekly executive meeting that Abdurrahman was had no other option than to account for his leadership.
"According to the constitution, the Assembly can call the President to account at any time. If the President were to defy such a request, I think it would mean that maybe he didn't understand the constitution," Sophan asserted.
Abdurrahman said on Saturday that the major parties had agreed not to touch on four crucial issues during the planned Assembly special session, including demanding that he deliver a statement of accountability at the opening of the event on Aug. 1.
"President Abdurrahman Wahid cannot reject the Assembly's call ... so there is no choice left to him other than to come and present his accountability statement," he further asserted.
Sophan added that it had been decided at Tuesday's meeting that his faction would only recognize a choice between two Assembly draft decrees as the only possible outcome of the evaluation of the President's speech.
The PDI Perjuangan faction, he said, would not accept any third option in responding to Abdurrahman's speech.
"We will maintain our previous stance and have not yet agreed to the possibility of accepting the President's speech with certain conditions attached," Sophan said.
He would not comment on whether the planned investigation into alleged graft involving one of the party's executives, Arifin Panigoro, would affect the party's stance.
"We always uphold the law and our stance will be decided by the party executive board later on. The faction simply follows orders from the executive board," he said.
Separately, PDI Perjuangan deputy secretary-general Pramono Anung Wibowo revealed that the party's chairwoman and Vice President Megawati Soekarnoputri is willing to attend a meeting between leaders of political parties and factions in the House of Representatives and People's Consultative Assembly, which will be held two weeks prior to the special session.
"Ibu said she would be more than happy to have a meeting with all of the party leaders," Pramono said.
There have been five meetings among secretary-generals of the political parties, excluding the National Awakening Party (PKB), to discuss preparations for the Assembly special session.
"The last meeting on Monday evening was attended by secretary- generals from the five major political parties, minus the PKB. The absence of the PKB from the meetings was merely due to different perceptions as regards political affairs," Pramono said.
The parties were the PDI Perjuangan, the Golkar Party, United Development Party (PPP), National Mandate Party (PAN) and the Crescent Star Party (PBB).
Pramono added that all political parties would be invited to the next meeting.
"The upcoming summit is for all political parties in the House of Representatives. All the parties have stated their intention of answering our invitation," Pramono remarked.
With the special session drawing near, the major political parties have preferred to intensify discussions among themselves in a bid to draw up a common agenda in preparation for the aftermath of the special session.
The ongoing lobbying not only involves the parties' joint stance during the special session but also a common platform to overcome the political and economic crises.
Meanwhile, political observer Eep Saefulah Fatah said the coming special session will not result in a solution to the country's current crisis if it is focused solely on changing the national leadership.
"I am not optimistic that the coming special session will help resolve the country's problems if it concentrates on forcing a transfer of power from President Abdurrahman Wahid to Vice President Megawati Soekarnoputri," Eep told The Jakarta Post on the sidelines of a seminar in Makassar, South Sulawesi.
He suggested that the coming special session highlight three major issues: proper relations between state institutions, effective government and a transitional process involving the least cost.
"The three issues should top the agenda, rather than just trying to change the president and afterwards distribute the ministerial posts up among the political parties," Eep said.
He asserted that even Megawati would be unable to lead the country out of the crisis after Abdurrahman's impeachment if these three key conditions were not met. (27/dja)