Special session to be held on Aug. 1

JAKARTA (JP): Indonesians can expect to know by the second week of August if they will be swearing in their third president in two years, or whether a political compromise has been struck to extend the life of President Abdurrahman Wahid's administration.

The valuation comes after legislators set Aug. 1 as the date for the start of the special session of the People's Consultative Assembly to demand Abdurrahman to present a presidential accountability to the country's highest institution.

The special session is expected to last seven or eight days.

Assembly speaker Amien Rais said the schedule was set after a consultation meeting between the Assembly leadership and the Assembly's faction leaders here on Thursday.

"The Assembly will stick to the Constitution in preparing the special session. It will be held two months after it is recommended by the House of Representatives," he said, referring to the 1978 and 2000 Assembly Decrees on the special session.

After the House voted overwhelmingly in favor of calling for a special session late on Wednesday, the House's secretary-general Sri Sumarjati officially handed on Thursday morning the recommendations to Assembly leaders here.

According to Amien, that Assembly's working committee would hold a meeting on Friday to continue preparations, including drafting the special session's agenda.

Amien would not speculate on whether a hastened schedule would be discussed, but instead repeated that they would stick with the timeframe stipulated within the decrees.

However the possibility of an accelerated special session, probably within 72-hours, was still open, should drastic developments, such as the imposition of a state of emergency, arise.

Amien remarked that the Annual Assembly, usually held in August, would likely be postponed until September or October.

Matori Abdul Djalil, deputy Assembly speaker and chairman of the National Awakening Party (PKB), maintained that despite the faction's walk-out during Wednesday's vote at the House, the party accepted the House's decision and would take part in the special session.

Matori said the PKB faction in the Assembly would intensify its lobby with other factions in an endeavor to seek a political compromise in the special session.

Separately, presidential spokesman Yahya C. Staquf criticized House factions for political indecency by forcing the nation to convene a special session.

"Politicians have put aside political decency as they have taken a political step that is unlawful," he said.

Yahya regretted that the House ignored the result of the Attorney General's Office's investigation into the two economic scandals that cleared the President of any involvement.

In Yogyakarta, Ichlasul Amal, a political analyst of Gadjah Mada University, said the Attorney General's findings could not be used as the basis for rejecting a special session.

He argued that the problem at hand was not merely the question of the scandals but also his controversial leadership.

He believed the President still has a chance to survive if his camp intensify their lobby for a political compromise with major parties.

Separately, certain legislators here were already calling for a hastened special session.

The Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle's (PDI Perjuangan) Marle Aberson Sihaloho said there was no point waiting for two months, while leaving the people in a state of uncertainty.

"It's unreasonable, unconstitutional and inefficient to wait until August because 500 of the 700 Assembly members are already in Jakarta and the session will have a single-item agenda of asking the president's accountability," he said.

According to him, the special session could be held by next week, having to wait only for the remaining 200 members of the Societal Groups and Regional Representatives factions, a majority of whom are already in Jakarta.

Meanwhile, the Supreme Advisory Council (DPA) called for a solution to the leadership crisis as a preliminary requirement for national reconciliation.

"The leadership crisis must be settled first before national reconciliation is promoted in a move to overcome the continued political crisis," Achmad Tirto Sudiro, DPA chairman, said after meeting with Coordinating Minister for Political, Social and Security Affairs Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono here on Thursday.

He stated that DPA had recently suggested the President be "non-active" for health reasons and delegate his power to Vice President Megawati Soekarnoputri but so far, he has yet to respond. (rms)