Wahono may not resist Golkar pressure

Wahono may not resist Golkar pressure

JAKARTA (JP): A scholar predicted yesterday that the speaker
of the House of Representatives, Wahono, would not dare reject
the ruling Golkar party's decision to withdraw its outspoken
member from the legislative body.

Dr. Soehardjo, from the Semarang-based Diponegoro University,
said that Wahono would not risk hurting his relationship with
Golkar by rejecting its highly controversial proposal to fire
Bambang Warih Koesoemo.

Besides which, Wahono also represents the dominant Golkar, who
decided collectively on whether or not the House will endorse
Bambang's dismissal.

"The chance is slim that Wahono will reject Golkar's
proposal," said the lecturer at the school of law in the
university.

Golkar has submitted its proposal to withdraw Bambang from the
House to Wahono. Wahono was supposed to decide on the
legislator's fate on Tuesday but he asked for another week on the
grounds that he needed more time to collect input on Bambang's
performance.

Golkar decided to withdraw Bambang from the House because he
"lacks manners when handling cabinet ministers" and often
deviates from the organization's policy line.

But many observers believe that Bambang is being fired because
of his attempt to uncover the huge bad debt of the Kanindotex
Group, belonging to Robby Tjahyadi, one of Golkar's donors.

"Wahono is well aware that if he chooses to reject Golkar's
proposal (to sack Bambang), he will put his own relationship with
Golkar on the line," Soehardjo said.

Wahono, who is a former chairman of Golkar, also knows very
well that Golkar leaders have decided unanimously to withdraw
Bambang.

Soehardjo said Bambang's dismissal, which has drawn storms of
criticism, will affect Golkar's performance in the 1997 general
election.

But it is difficult to predict to what extent the affect will
be because Golkar chairman Harmoko is aggressively campaigning
across the country to improve the political organization's image,
he said.

Golkar's lost 17 seats in the House, from 299 to 282, under
Wahono leadership in the 1992 general election, reducing its
majority from 73 percent to 68 percent. Harmoko has been trying
hard to enlarge Golkar's majority. (har/pan)