Devi Asmarani, Jakarta – Several legislators said they would boycott Parliament Speaker Akbar Tandjung, a key suspect in a financial scandal, if he refused to vacate his post temporarily while undergoing a legal investigation.
Mr Akbar's political life appears to be hanging by a thread, with the latest testimonies incriminating him in a graft case involving 40 billion rupiah (S$7.6 million) of the State Logistics Agency (Bulog).
Some members of his Golkar party are even engaged in talks to unseat him.
A top Indonesian Democratic Party-Struggle (PDI-P) legislator, Mr Irmadi Lubis, said: "There have been discussions among the legislators, including PDI-P members, to boycott parliamentarian meetings chaired by Mr Akbar. Parliament's image has declined throughout the years. Some say we no longer take pride in being lawmakers. We do not want Mr Akbar Tandjung's case to worsen it," he said.
That sentiment is echoed by other legislators, most of whom come from the fourth largest party in Parliament, the National Awakening Party (PKB), and its allies from smaller nationalist factions.
Said PKB's Ali Masykur Musa: "How can we expect the public to respect decisions made by Parliament when they are decided in a meeting chaired by a person who is in legal trouble?" But others voiced more moderate views.
Some PDI-P executives said they would not pursue any political means to unseat Mr Akbar during the course of the probe by the Attorney-General's Office.
A PDI-P executive said: "Our chairman, President Megawati Sukarnoputri, has ordered the party to leave the case in the hands of the law. Our priority now is a stable government. But we can't control all of our party members," he said, referring to calls by certain PDI-P members for Mr Akbar to resign.
Meanwhile, Mr Alvin Lie of the National Mandate Party said the boycott plans were "individual sentiments, not party policy". His party had also called on Mr Akbar to leave his post temporarily "to facilitate the investigation". But "if the latter refuses, we can't do anything to force him", he said.
He added that most parties wanted to ensure that there would not be a repeat of the 2001 political instability surrounding the removal of Mr Abdurrahman.
The strongest pressure for Mr Akbar to resign may yet come from Golkar, the party he chairs. Some Golkar members are mulling over the possibility of calling an early National Congress to elect a new chairman.
Although Mr Akbar's grip on the second-largest political party in the country remains, some Golkar members are concerned that the probe will affect their image.
A party executive said: "Some feared that if the situation worsens, it will jeopardise Golkar"s future in the 2004 election.' Another source said senior party members unhappy with Mr Akbar's leadership were using the current opportunity to seize control of Golkar.
Golkar members from the Eastern Indonesia caucus, which makes up the party's largest constituency, have called publicly on Mr Akbar to quit his posts in the party and in Parliament. But deputy chairman Slamet Effendy Yusuf dismissed these as personal calls.
"In order to call a congress to elect a new leader, at least two-thirds of the regional party officers must support it. Right now, no one has made a formal call."