Jakarta – Facing pressure from students on the street, the House of Representatives decided Tuesday, by an open vote, to conduct a review of the government's unpopular fuel price policy.
The House, however, dropped demands to summon the government to the House to explain the policy.
After a two-and-half-hour closed-door session of faction leaders ended in deadlock, House leaders called for an open vote, forcing several factions to reverse themselves and support the move for an inquiry.
Of the 360 lawmakers present at Tuesday's plenary session, 233 voted for a petition to review the fuel price increase policy.
"The House will establish a review team immediately," said House Speaker Agung Laksono, himself a leader of the Golkar Party, which together with the Democratic Party were the only factions that opposed the petition.
Golkar lawmaker Yuddy Chrisnandi stood out as the only one from his party to support the petition.
The Prosperous Justice Party (PKS), the United Development Party (PPP) and the Prosperous Peace Party (PDS) were the key groups swinging the decision for the petition. These factions had previously said a review was unnecessary.
Mahfudz Siddiq, head of the PKS faction, denied his faction had reversed course to save face in the open vote.
"We finally agreed to use the right of inquiry because the investigating team will review government energy policy in general as well as the fuel price increase," he said.
Lawmaker Dradjad Hari Wibowo of the National Mandate Party, who was involved in the closed-door meeting, said the open vote may have forced PKS, PPP and PDS to change their positions.
"As supporters of this petition, our strategy was to force the House to decide by an open vote. With this mechanism, factions had to reconsider their decisions because they were under public scrutiny," he said.
As the lawmakers held their plenary session on the fuel price increase, students from universities staged unruly rallies in different locations in Jakarta.
They tore down the toll road fence in front of the House of Representatives building and attacked a police vehicle nearby. Another group of students burned a vehicle in front of Atma Jaya University.
The police managed to disperse the protesters and detained several demonstrators.
In the same plenary session, the House held another vote on a second attempt to summon the government to the House to explain the fuel price increase. This was rejected. Dradjad said his faction voted against the petition (to call the government to the House to explain itself) because this would divert attention from reviewing the government fuel price increase policy.
"Once the inquiry petition is accepted, the interpellation is no longer relevant. Further, the current lawmakers only have about one year left at the House. It would be better for us to focus on the right of inquiry," he said.
Tjahjo Kumolo, head of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle, which has supported the inquiry petition since the beginning, said the action of the legislature to attempt simultaneously to effect two measures on its right of inquiry into government policy and to call upon government to explain its actions before the House showed that there must be something really wrong with government policy.
"This is the first time in our legislative history that this has happened," he said. (alf)