Smooth MPR General Session draws praise
JAKARTA (JP): Assembly members patted themselves on the back yesterday at the end of a smooth and prosaic General Session of the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR).
Deputy Speaker of the Assembly Ismail Hasan Metareum said the legislative body deserved congratulations for finishing the 11- day congress on time with only minor interruptions.
"No problem. The Assembly managed to reach agreements in its deliberations during the General Session as expected," he said.
Ismail, who is also chairman of the Moslem-based United Development Party (PPP), said a minor interruption during Saturday's Commission C meeting did not ensnare the meeting.
"There's nothing controversial. It's common if debates fill a deliberation."
Golkar legislator Fahmi Idris interrupted PPP spokesman Bachtiar Chamsyah during the commission meeting, criticizing him for wasting time with unnecessary repetition of the party's general overview of President Soeharto's accountability speech.
After initial reluctance, PPP declared it "could approve" the accountability speech with further demands for radical bureaucratic reforms.
It was the only interruption to mark the General Session, although it merely dealt with a technicality, rather than an issue of substance.
Leaders of the five Assembly factions had warned their members against interruptions prior to the general session, saying that all five factions had reached agreements on the substance of the congress in their preparatory meetings in January.
The 1,000-member Assembly capped off its congress yesterday with the election and inauguration of B.J. Habibie as Vice President for the 1998/2003 term in place of Try Sutrisno.
On Tuesday, the Assembly reelected incumbent President Soeharto and passed the State Policy Guidelines plus four other decrees, including one that gives the President extra powers.
The General Session this year was marked by extra tight security measures amid worries about heightening protests over rising prices of basic commodities.
A total of 25,000 security officers were deployed to safeguard the congress, compared to 11,000 five years ago.
Another Assembly deputy speaker, Poedjono Pranyoto, expressed satisfaction, saying the Assembly passed decrees that were beneficial to the people.
"Alhamdulillah (praise God) that the Assembly reached agreements in the spirit of brotherhood. There have been different opinions among us, but now everything is clear," Poedjono, who chaired the Assembly working committee in charge of the preparatory meetings, said.
He said he did not play down criticism of the Assembly.
"Such criticism serves well as a mirror for us to be introspective. To err is human, to forgive is divine," Peodjono said, citing a proverb.
The just concluded General Session drew criticism for lacking debates, particularly on the vice presidential issue. The Assembly had already locked the door for former cabinet minister Emil Salim's bid for the vice presidency even though its congress had not even started.
Poedjono defended the Assembly's stubborn stance on certain demands for the alternative candidate, saying that any motions should meet the rules and mechanisms applying to the highest law- making body. (amd)