A number of politicians refuse to join DPR meetings attended by the Finance Minister. They await cues from the Constitutional Court.
THE seemingly never-ending Bank Century bailout case shows no sign of stopping any time soon. Despite the decisive victory of those opposing the government’s policy of injecting Rp6.7 trillion into the bank at the House of Representatives (DPR) Plenary Session two weeks ago, some people in Senayan remain disgruntled. Since last week, a number of politicians have been amassing support to boycott Finance Minister Sri Mulyani from legislature meetings.
The act was triggered by the speech from President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, one day after the legislative denial of the bailout policy went official. Aired live by almost all national television stations, in his speech, Yudhonono insisted on supporting the decisions of Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati and Vice President Boediono (when he was Governor of Bank Indonesia) to save Bank Century. “Bank Century’s rescue was a decision made at a difficult time, amidst the worst period of the global financial crisis at the end of 2008,” he said, in support of Boediono and Mulyani.
The DPR found that statement to be somewhat offensive. “The President does not respect the decision from the DPR Plenary Session,” said a politician from the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) faction, Eva Kusuma Sundari. According to her, despite being made through a voting process, the DPR had issued their guilty verdict on Sri Mulyani and Boediono. “If the President cannot respect the DPR’s decision, we can also show no respect to the government,” she said.
According to Eva, the boycott on Sri Mulyani is not just a bluff. “We have the right not to attend meetings with the Finance Minister,” she exclaimed. Eva herself is a member of the Finance & Banking Commission, Sri Mulyani’s working partner in the DPR. According to her, if politicians from all parties opposing the bailout agreed not to attend, the meetings will not reach quorum and any government agenda that requires approval from the legislature will fall apart. “We will keep doing this until Sri Mulyani resigns,” she said.
It is not just the Finance Commission but also the budget body that shows a similar refusal. A politician from Golkar, Harry Azhar Azis, leads the DPR body whose task is to discuss the State Budget (APBN). Harry once was the center of attention when he rained down questions upon the former Secretary of the Financial System Stability Committee, Raden Pardede, in the Bank Century Special Inquiry Right Committee meeting. At that time, Raden had a hard time getting through Harry’s hailstorm of questions, which rendered him unable to provide answers.
“The House’s political verdict is clear enough,” he said last week. “Now it becomes a problem because there are efforts to disregard this decision,” he said. Therefore, he urges President Yudhoyono to take firm action. “The President holds the ball,” he said. To avoid deadlocks, Harry suggests that the President immediately find someone to fill the Deputy Finance Minister position. Anggito Abimanyu, head of the Fiscal Policy Board of the Finance Department, is a strong candidate for such a position. Anggito may attend budget discussion meetings in the DPR, said Harry.
As for the boycott idea, according to Eva Kusuma, it represents a spontaneous reaction from some politicians and activists, in response to the President’s speech. Eva denied the criticism from some people who suggest that the DPR had sacrificed the people’s interest to fulfill their political agenda. “Don’t blame us, ask the President. Why does he insist on keeping someone the House has clearly de-legitimized?” she said.
While the attacks on Sri Mulyani are being prepared in Senayan, Boediono’s share of assaults is coming from outside the DPR. Ray Rangkuti, Director of Lingkar Madani who is always eager to push investigations on the Century bailout, said he is preparing a judicial review of Law No. 27/2009 on the People’s Consultative Assembly (MPR), DPR, and the Regional Legislative. “The people’s political rights are being oppressed by a tyrannic majority,” he said.
He refers to the fourth paragraph of Article 184 in the regulation, which requires the presence of three-quarters of the entire House members during a plenary session to discuss the rights of expressing opinions. The House’s approval of the rights’ utilization is the first step towards the impeachment of the President and Vice President. “If the rule remains unchanged, we will never have any rights to express our opinions,” said Rangkuti. The Democrat faction, SBY’s main supporter, constitutes more than a quarter of the seats in the DPR.
Rangkuti thinks that the article is in conflict with paragraph 3 of Article 7B of the amended 1945 Constitution. The article states that the proposal of the rights of expressing opinions by the DPR to the Constitutional Court requires the attendance of only two-thirds of the total DPR members. “Why make the rule from the Constitution more difficult?” asked Rangkuti.
According to him, if the decision from the DPR plenary session is not followed by the right to express opinions, the Bank Century bailout case will remain in the shadows. “The Finance Minister can continue dodging the attacks, while waiting for the legal process,” he said. “Rather than continue debating, let us just settle this in the Constitutional Court.”
However, Ray’s path to impeachment is still riddled with obstacles. Even if the lawsuit gets through, it does not mean that the rights of expressing opinions itself will automatically give way to it. The Democrat faction, along with two of its most faithful partners, the National Awakening Party (PKB) faction and the National Mandate Party (PAN) faction, still holds 222 seats in the House, more than a third of the total amount.
Nevertheless, Rangkuti will keep pushing. He is currently busy consulting with constitutional law experts regarding his proposed judicial review. “I’ve also spoken to an advocate who would handle the case,” he said. Rangkuti promises to file his suit to the Constitutional Court in two weeks.
Although it sounded vicious, the attack against Sri Mulyani and Boediono has not been consolidated with others. Golkar faction head Setya Novanto, for example, said that he knows nothing of his subordinate’s plan to boycott the Finance Minister. “Let me ask Harry Azhar Azis first,” he said last week.
When attended the opening ceremony of Golkar’s education and training function at Borobudur Hotel, Jakarta, Friday last week, Golkar Chairman Aburizal Bakrie even showed a rather opposite reaction to this matter. “The Bank Century case has been moved into the legal grounds. Allow it to carry on without any political intervention,” he said in his opening speech.
A number of Bank Century Special Inquiry Committee members from Golkar, including Harry Azhar, nodded at their boss’ directive. After the speech, Harry and another Golkar politician, Ade Komaruddin, were summoned before Aburizal. What was going on? Ade did not provide a clear answer. He said “The faction has not reached a final decision yet. One thing’s for certain, Sri Mulyani remains with the President until now, doesn’t she?”
Not everyone who opposes the Bank Century bailout shares the same opinion either. “I disagree, it’s totally irrelevant,” said a politician from the Gerindra faction, Ahmad Muzani, about the boycott plans. “If Golkar and PDI-P insist on doing it, let them be,” he said. “But we’re not in this together.”
Meanwhile, the fate of the planned attack against Boediono still remains unclear as well. “I have to strengthen the legal standing,” said Rangkuti. The Constitutional Court will only receive lawsuits filed by those who are directly affected by a law. “Actually, it would be better if one member from the DPR brings this to the Constitutional Court,” he said later. Eva Kusuma herself admitted that this second-stage attack in Senayan is still in its early stages. “We will approach other factions,” she said.
Wahyu Dhyatmika
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