CARRYING a file, Alvin Lie approached the table of the session chairman. To Muhaimin Iskandar, who presided at the meeting, the National Mandate Party (PAN) politician said: “It was not the President’s reply but the Minister’s.” Then he just walked off.
Alvin’s move was followed by around 20 other members of the House of Representatives (DPR). They went forward together to deliver the documents. Some members yelled: “Yudhoyono’s washing his hands!” Others loudly remarked: “Yudhoyono isn’t quite a man!”
Consequently, the plenary session with a hearing of the government’s reply to the interpolation over Bank Indonesia Liquidity Assistance (BLBI) funds on the agenda on Tuesday last week turned into an uproar.
Coordinating Minister for the Economy Boediono, who was ready to read out the reply, was taken by surprise. He could only gaze at Muhaimin and dozens of legislators who were arguing. Fortunately, the atmosphere calmed down slightly moments later. Muhaimin requested the Minister to proceed with the reply. However, Boediono had not even started when protests were again lodged.
Amid the fracas, Muhaimin chose a shortcut: the session was adjourned for 30 minutes. “All faction leaders should gather in the rear room,” said Muhaimin. The faction chiefs then headed for the room to negotiate. A number of legislators chose to have a chat in a room corner. Some simply deserted the gathering. The session was resumed at 1pm.
The DPR members’ protests stemmed from one point: the signature of Boediono in the interpolation response documents. They could understand the absence of President Yudhoyono, but the government reply papers should have been signed by the President rather than Boediono. “The reply signed by the Coordinating Minister for the Economy was very unworthy,” said Azlaini Agus from the PAN faction. The protesters were united in demanding the government revise the answer.
The DPR members apparently had from the beginning been prepared to protest at the session. Ade Daud Nasution from the Reform Star faction even brought along a megaphone. He said the device was needed because as the meeting became tense, room speakers would now and again be turned off by the committee. DPR employees, he added, “are civil servants, so they may be told to switch off the PA system.”
The internal furor also saw an external commotion. At the gate of the DPR building, some 500 people were clamoring. They demanded that the government immediately bring recipients of the public funds to trial.
The BLBI in the spotlight involves bail-out funds injected by the government when a number of banks crashed during the economic crisis in 1997. The total supplied reached about Rp144.5 trillion. Despite mounting credit injections, several banks continued to fail and even closed down. Claiming bankruptcy, their owners could not afford to repay the loans.
From the start the government chose out-of-court settlements to put an end to the dispute. Bank owners were asked to give up their assets to cover their debt repayments. The value of these assets was later assessed by independent auditors.
Assessment results varied. Some assets had adequate value, others were less worthy. Debtors with sufficient assets value received Certificates of Settlement (SKL). Those with such papers felt that their debts were over. That was not the case, though. Later, after being sold, the assets delivered had very low prices. Bank Central Asia, for instance, received a bail-out fund worth Rp60 trillion. Its owner, Anthony Salim, had handed over a number of assets as repayment. The independent auditors named by the Indonesian Bank Restructuring Agency (IBRA) had also assessed that the assets could settle Salim’s debts. After their sale, the price of all the assets turned out to be lower than the total of his debts.
Besides the low prices of assets, many entrepreneurs were also uncooperative. Some recipients of loans even chose to flee abroad. As a result, state losses in this case reached about Rp138.4 trillion (see The Story of Embezzled Funds).
Handled by four presidents and eight attorneys-general, the conclusion of the case is obscure. Some observers have alleged that the case implicating tycoons is purposely floated in order to be exploited by politicians. Attorney General Hendarman Supandji is determined to resolve the case legally. That’s why since end-2007, several businessmen like Anthony Salim have been examined.
Apart from that, DPR members have also been in action. Last year they gathered support to institute interpolation. The guerrilla tactics were fruitful: 71 DPR members signed the interpolation motion. In December 2007, a DPR plenary meeting approved the exercise of this right. On Tuesday last week, the government replied but the response was deemed unsatisfactory.
Suspicion has also arisen. “Indications are strong that the government has been discriminatory,” said Ganjar Pranowo, a politician of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P). Some debtors were examined, but “uncooperative ones have been untouchable by law. What’s wrong?” protested a legislator.
After Tuesday’s plenary session, faction leaders will give their views. All these views will be presented in a plenary meeting, which so far has not yet been put on the agenda.
Several other parties will soon study the reply. PDI-P, for example, has even formed a team of scrutiny with around 10 members. The team is in charge of selecting which part of the reply is accepted and which part rejected. Results of the study will determine the party’s stance.
Some sources revealed that leaders of the PDI-P faction and certain other factions were joining hands to garner support. They aim at a single target: persuading as many factions as possible to reject the government reply.
These faction heads are now assiduously lobbying. If the majority of DPR factions reject the reply, three “bullets” will be directed at the Yudhoyono government, namely the right to make inquiries, the right to ask questions, and the formation of a special committee. The three weapons indeed have greater political weight than interpolation.
Ganjar Pranowo confirmed such lobbying but they were on a person-to-person basis rather at an inter-faction level. “We have been chatting personally with several figures of some other factions,” acknowledged Ganjar. But he added the lobbying was not yet intensive.
Drajad Wibowo from PAN also admitted that he had been lobbying personally. The approach, according to Drajad, is usually made in the DPR building. Yet he added, “We’re only talking about familiar things, not too far yet.”
A number of politicians are not so sure of any follow-up to the interpolation. They speculate the maneuver will falter in the last round. “Pak Drajad Wibowo actually spoke aloud in the plenary session, but in the government he has Hatta Rajasa,” remarked Ganjar. Hatta, now Minister/State Secretary, is a PAN politician.
PDI-P politicians are also seen as launching a bluffing policy. It’s because under the government of President Megawati, through Presidential Instruction No. 8/2002, many delinquent debtors were forgiven. In other words, the PDI-P drive, if carried on, will be a suicide attempt. Therefore, belief is strong that the case handling will be deflated in the last bout. That’s when faction leaders offer their views. At that moment, said Ganjar, “the interpolation will just evaporate.”
Wenseslaus Manggut, Budi Riza, Anton Septian and Retno Sari
Source : Tempointeraktif.com
