Ezra Sihite & Rizky Amelia – Still offended over its questioning by investigators from the antigraft agency, the House of Representatives Budget Committee said on Tuesday that it would refuse to answer a summons from the corruption-busting body.
Tamsil Linrung, a deputy chairman of the committee, said he and fellow deputy Olly Dondokambey would only show up at the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) for questioning once a spat arising from an earlier grilling had been resolved.
After being questioned with two other officials last Tuesday, Tamsil and Olly were both called in for follow-up questioning today over allegations that the Budget Committee was complicit in bid-rigging in projects administered by at least two ministries.
"We'll see about tomorrow, just you wait," Tamsil, a Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) lawmaker said regarding himself as his Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) collegeague when asked whether he would attend the KPK office.
Immediately after last week's questioning, the Budget Committee announced it was freezing all discussions on the 2012 state budget, which must be approved by the end of October, in protest over the KPK scrutinizing its actions.
The move was criticized by House watchdogs as immature, but received the backing of House deputy speaker Priyo Budi Santoso from the Golkar Party.
On Tuesday, however, Priyo declined to comment on the planned questioning of Tamsil and Olly, saying only that he believed it would be best if the KPK met with the Budget Committee leaders beforehand to resolve the ongoing spat.
He also said House leaders had arranged a separate meeting on Thursday with top officials from the KPK, the National Police and the Attorney General's Office. Once that meeting is over, he said, the Budget Committee would be asked to resume discussions on the 2012 budget.
"The state budget must be finalized immediately, so all this arguing should not be allowed to drag on," Priyo said.
Pramono Anung, the House deputy speaker from the PDI-P, said that Thursday's meeting was meant to help resolve the standoff and clarify the function and powers of the Budget Committee.
He asked critics not to blame the committee for the decision to freeze budget discussions, saying that democratic values allowed the committee members to express their opinion this way.
The call echoes an earlier statement by House Speaker Marzuki Alie, who said that despite the freeze being a constitutional violation, it was warranted because the KPK had "insulted" the House through its questioning.
Prior to that questioning, officials had suggested that the KPK and the Supreme Audit Agency (BPK) be allowed to sit in on Budget Committee meetings to monitor for any indications of bid-rigging, embezzlement or bribery.
However, the BPK played down the idea on Tuesday, saying its presence at such meetings would be a constitutional violation.
Hadi Purnomo, the BPK chairman, said his office did not have the authority to discuss the budget because it was tasked with auditing budgets already set rather than actually setting them.
[Additional reporting from Dion Bisara.]