Febriamy Hutapea & Muninggar Sri Saraswati – A battle is already brewing within the House of Representatives to lead a special committee that will investigate the central government's controversial Rp 6.7 trillion ($717 million) bailout of PT Bank Century beginning next month.
President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's ruling Democratic Party, which was initially against a House investigation, is trying to out-muscle the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), the main opposition party, to choose who will chair the special committee.
The party holding the chair can influence the scope of the investigation, including which witnesses are summoned to testify, and ultimately its outcome and recommendations. The Democrats agreed to form the committee following the release of a damning report on the Century bailout by the Supreme Audit Agency this week. They made it clear on Wednesday that they, as the largest party in the House, should select the chairperson.
"We should follow the rules of the establishment of the special committee, that it should be proportional," said Marzuki Alie, the House speaker and Democratic Party secretary general.
The composition of a House special committee is based on the number of seats each party holds, and the chairperson is selected by consensus among committee members. A special committee usually has 30 members.
Democratic Party lawmaker Ruhut Sitompul said he also believed his party should lead the special committee. "We are greater in number, so the chairman is supposed to be from our [party]," he said.
However, PDI-P secretary general Pramono Anung said his party should lead the committee because it initiated the petition among lawmakers requesting a House inquiry into the Century case. "We want the position given to the faction that initiated the move, including the PDI-P," he said.
The state audit report, released on Monday, concluded that part of the bailout disbursement was effectively illegal, and that senior central bank and Finance Ministry officials had used quick, subjective judgments to conclude that Century's collapse would be a systemic threat to the country's financial system.
There are rumors that the government ordered the bailout to protect deposits of high-profile bank customers, and that some of the bailout funds were diverted to Yudhoyono's re-election campaign. The government has emphatically denied the rumors.
Vice President Boediono, speaking before the Jakarta Foreign Correspondents Club on Wednesday, reiterated that he welcomed the inquiry. "The facts of the case will come out. Everything that we did was needed."
Boediono, Bank Indonesia governor at the time of the rescue, acknowledged there was suspicion, unrelated to the bailout, of criminal and political misuse of funds. "These are things that will be cleared up and should be cleared up," he said.
Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) lawmaker Mukhamad Misbakhun, among the first to sign the petition for a probe, said the special committee leader must be supported by all factions.
"It's not only about the quantity [of seats]. Otherwise, the spirit of the motion will fade away. The chairman must be someone from the faction that initiated it," he said.
Pramono said he was confident the committee could reveal the money trail of the bailout, despite speculation that the Democratic Party did an about-face on a House investigation so it could use its majority to lead the committee and thus influence its work.
"I believe that this matter is under a strong public spotlight, and I hope that no one dares to use this motion [for an investigation] as political leverage," Pramono said.