Markus Junianto Sihaloho – Despite a recent setback in the Constitutional Court, lawmakers are moving forward with their initiative to use the House of Representatives' right to express an opinion, seen as the first step in an attempt to impeach Vice President Boediono for his role in the 2008 Bank Century bailout.
The Golkar Party's Bambang Soesatyo said on Sunday that 119 lawmakers had signed a petition to that end, up from 106 last week. Though only 25 signatures are required for the matter to be taken up in the House's plenary session, lawmakers behind the movement are targeting 150.
Bambang acknowledged that it was not easy to persuade lawmakers to sign the petition, blaming "political threats" by the government. He said the recent legal case against Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) lawmaker Mukha-mad Misbakhun, one of the initiators of the House's probe into the controversial Bank Century bailout, had made other lawmakers think twice before signing the petition. Misbakhun has been arrested over his alleged use of a fake letter to get $22.5 million in credit from Bank Century.
"But for us, it [the threat] is a consequence of the principle to reveal the truth to the public," Bambang said.
Other lawmakers, however, including House Deputy Speaker Priyo Budi Santoso, also from Golkar, have said the legislators should first give the recently formed House monitoring body time to do its work in ensuring the recommendations on the Bank Century issue are properly implemented by the government and law-enforcement agencies.
Priyo said if these agencies failed to consider or act on the recommendations, "the House will decide whether to pursue the right to express an opinion."
The division in the House, and even within Golkar, stems largely from the fact that under current law, invoking the right requires the approval of three-quarters of legislators.
President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's Democratic Party controls 26 percent of House seats, in addition to those held by coalition partners the National Awakening Party (PKB) and the National Mandate Party (PAN).
Golkar's chairman in the House, Ade Komaruddin, has said his party would only support the right if the Constitutional Court lowered the requirement stated in the 2009 Legislative Bodies Law to two-thirds, in line with the Constitution.
But last Wednesday, the court rejected a request for a judicial review. Judge Akil Mochtar said that since the right in question was that of the House as a whole, it should be the House speaker filing the request for a review, and not individual legislators.
Speaker Marzukie Alie, however, is from the ruling Democrats, a staunch supporter of the government bailout. Bambang did not reply when asked how the lawmakers would move forward despite the rejection of the judicial review.