The House and the President

A variety of reactions emerged as soon as President Abdurrahman Wahid announced his refusal to comply with the summons addressed to him by the House of Representatives' special committee investigating the Brunei and Bulog scandals. Aside from the question of whether or not the President was right to reject the summons, his stance is certain to create new tensions between the chief executive and the legislature.

It is in this context advisable that the President respond to the House's well-intended summons in order that everything may be cleared up, once and for all. On the other hand, the House of Representatives should not concern itself merely with those two cases or with the past dismissal by the President of two Cabinet ministers. To do so would only give rise to suspicions that certain hidden political motives to remove the President are behind the House's move. It is this kind of suspicion that must be quashed because it could produce counter-reactions that might endanger the nation.

-- Bisnis Indonesia, Jakarta