Susilo wants DPD to be critical
Tiarma Siboro and Kurniawan Hari, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, the next president, held an informal meeting with all 128 members of the Regional Representatives Council (DPD) at a hotel in South Jakarta on Sunday and asked them to be critical of his administration.
Susilo told the press after the meeting that he personally asked DPD members, four from each province, who were directly elected in the April 5 legislative election, to offer criticism that would help his government serve the needs of the people.
"I told DPD members in the meeting to continue to be critical toward the government in voicing out the aspirations of provinces they represent about autonomy and decentralization," Susilo was quoted by detik.com on Sunday.
Last week, the outgoing members of the House of Representatives (DPR) and the government agreed to amend the Autonomy Law, despite strong opposition from some regional administrations.
Susilo denied that the meeting was held in an effort to win DPD support, but DPD speaker Ginandjar Kartasasmita said that the council could take sides with the government if the latter was embroiled in political disputes with the House.
"Political disputes between the government and House cannot be avoided in the future, and DPD may take sides with the executive branch if we are certainly sure that the government is not committing any violation," Ginandjar said.
Fears of possible discord between the government and House grew after the Nationhood Coalition, which controls more than 50 percent of seats in the House, won the speakership on Saturday.
The coalition, which consists of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), the Golkar Party and the Prosperous Peace Party (PDS), supported Megawati Soekarnoputri in the Sept. 20 election. Two small parties -- the Reform Star Party and the Concern for the National Functional Party (PKPB) had joined the grouping. However, it was weakened on Saturday as the Golkar chief, Akbar Tandjung, reportedly kicked the United Development Party (PPP) out of the coalition.
The Democratic Party, which nominated Susilo and Kalla in the election, has only 56 seats in the 550-member House.
Ginandjar said on Sunday that the council would stand by Susilo's administration.
DPD member Aksa Mahmud said the gathering was held at the initiative of DPD members, who wanted to congratulate the pair on their election victory. Aksa is also a brother-in-law of Kalla.
Meanwhile, factions in the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) continued their closed-door lobbying on Sunday as they failed to agree on the mechanism to elect Assembly leaders.
Temporary Assembly speaker Agung Laksono opened a plenary meeting at 4:10 p.m. only to inform the participants that the DPR and the DPD had failed to reach a consensus. Both the DPR and DPD make up the Assembly.
The DPD had been demanding a revision of the Assembly's rules for electing its speaker.
Article 25 of the Assembly's standing orders stipulates that each Assembly member shall vote for four of six candidates. The candidate that gets the most votes will be declared the Assembly speaker and the three runners up will be deputies.
DPR members have insisted that three of the leaders would come from the House and one from the DPD. The council, however, insisted that the seats should be equally divided between the House and DPD, arguing that both bodies were equal.
"We want the House and the Council in equal positions as reflected in the composition of the Assembly leadership," said DPD member Ichsan Lalembeh.
At press early Monday morning, representatives of both the House and DPD were still meeting.