Special session to be held on Aug. 1

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)