Wahono on a tightrope

Wahono on a tightrope

Speaker of the House of Representatives Wahono is walking a tightrope. He is being challenged as to whether he is courageous enough to defend a legislator whom the ruling party Golkar wants to sack. As required by procedures, Golkar has officially proposed the withdrawal of Bambang Warih Koesoemo for misconduct and "lacking manners" in dealing with cabinet ministers. Bambang stands accused of offending the ministers of manpower, industry and finance.

Minister of Industry Tunky Ariwibowo has said he did not feel offended by Bambang. And Bambang himself has denied the charges leveled against him by his party leaders, calling them "major slander" and a "political maneuver".

In line with tradition, a political group can propose to the House speaker that a legislator be withdrawn. It depends on the speaker whether or not he considers it justified to pass the proposal on to President Soeharto. In Bambang's case, many people believe that the dismissal is due to his outspokenness and no other reason.

Perhaps, because the withdrawal was proposed by Golkar, the government-backed political grouping which dominates the House, so many people have expressed their sympathy for Bambang. People do not expect that political grouping to resort to such means to discipline its members. Although it can legitimately demand Bambang's withdrawal, the move does not seem to be in line with democratic procedures and with the demands for greater openness among the public.

The problem now is just how courageous Wahono, who is a former Golkar chairman, will be in studying the case objectively and making a fair decision.

It should be remembered that, as reported, President Soeharto, who is the chief patron of this political group, has given the green light for the dismissal.

When Amir Machmud was in Wahono's position a decade ago, he refused to pass on a similar proposal by the United Development Party against a House member called H. Sudardji. At that time, Amir reportedly said that "I am not a post office chief who sends onward everything I receive."

In efforts to muster the necessary courage, perhaps Wahono should understand that the matter of Bambang has grown to immense proportions. It is now a problem of losing face, instead of whether the legislator has performed his constitutional duties in the right way. For Golkar and Bambang himself it is now a problem of face saving. In Indonesia, saving face is perhaps more important than almost anything else.

In this case we understand why other ministers -- apart from Tunky -- have refused to comment on whether or not they felt insulted by Bambang's style.

Although voters choose a political group and not an individual representative in the Indonesian election system, it is not completely true to say that a House member is there to represent his party and not the people. When a legislator takes his oath he pronounces loyalty to "the people, the nation and the state", not to his political grouping.

We are afraid that if the speaker just forwards everything a political group requests to the President, then one day he himself could be withdrawn by his party for defending a legislator whom his party loves to hate.

Besides, it seems that Golkar would be wise to consider the impact which this particular move could have on its standing in the eyes of the electorate. It should be borne in mind that because of their better education, today's Indonesians are generally much more capable of drawing their own conclusions than their parents were.