Muninggar Sri Saraswati & Febriamy Hutapea – Two Political parties have removed three outspoken members of the House of Representatives special committee investigating the PT Bank Century bailout after the Democratic party appeared to threaten that cabinet positions were on the line if coalition partners didn't tone down their criticism of the scandal.
Both the National Awakening Party (PKB) and the National Mandate Party (PAN) rejected accusations that replacing the committee members was linked to talk of a cabinet reshuffle after President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's evaluation of his cabinet's first 100 days in office – even though the committee, which convened on Dec. 5, only has three weeks left to complete its inquiry.
The withdrawal of the committee members follows the weekend election of Coordinating Minister for the Economy Hatta Rajasa, a key ally of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, to lead the PAN – a move commentators described as a way for the president to consolidate his ruling coalition.
PAN secretary general Taufik Kurniawan denied that replacing Chandra Tirta Wijaya with Asman Abnur was an attempt to weaken the committee investigating the circumstances surrounding the allegedly illegal bailout in 2008, which critics allege benefitted Yudhoyono and the Democratic Party.
"It's just a common move to refresh the personnel. There was no pressure whatsoever," Kurniawan said, adding that the membership of the special committee was "very flexible."
Taufik said Asman was initially appointed to sit on the committee, but it was Chandra who assumed the position because Asman was busy preparing PAN's national congress.
"Chandra was sitting on the committee temporarily. Since the congress has been concluded, Asman should take over his position," he said.
The PKB, which pulled Marwan Ja'far and Anna Muawanah from the committee and replaced them with Agus Sulisyono and Muhammad Toha, similarly denied the replacements were politically motivated.
The replacements were necessary to "refresh and improve" the performance of PKB lawmakers both on the committee and the House, PKB secretary general Lukman Edy said.
"We expect Marwan to focus more on the PKB faction," he said, saying that his position as the PKB faction chairman already required him to extend himself due to his heavy workload.
The PKB, Lukman said, did not want Marwan's management of the faction to be distracted by the Century probe.
Bachrudin Nasori, PKB's central board general treasurer, said the two members' replacement occurred following a meeting of faction leadership with PKB Chairman Muhaimin Iskandar on Tuesday.
Both Lukman and Taufik claimed the replacements of the three lawmakers, who have been involved in the committee since the very beginning, would not affect the performance of their factions during the probe.
Lukman said the new members would be as critical as the lawmakers they replaced, adding that they would learn quickly.
Democratic Party faction leader Anas Urbaningrum denied the possible intervention of the Democrats. Anas said the evaluation that had been mentioned by Yudhoyono would be more comprehensive in order to improve the coalition scheme and ties.
"What we [Democrats] want is simple – how all coalition parties can be consistent and firm in holding the coalition and ethics together," he said. "We want the 'coalition faith' to remain strong and not be easily shaken by the political dynamic," he added.