Anita Rachman, Jakarta – Two political parties loyal to Indonesia's ruling party on Sunday said they would continue to stand by the Democrats, effectively making it almost impossible for the legislature to launch an inquest into the Bank Century bailout even with the recently lowered quorum.
The National Mandate Party (PAN) and the National Awakening Party (PKB), which have supported the Democratic Party throughout the Bank Century saga, said on Sunday that they would not back any motion for the House of Representatives to use its right to express an opinion in regard to the bank rescue.
A Constitutional Court ruling on Wednesday lowered the quorum needed for the House of Representatives to invoke the right to express an opinion, the first step in impeaching the president or vice president.
"Give our law-enforcement institutions enough time to resolve the case," said Tjatur Sapto Edy, the chairman of PAN's faction in the House, which consists of 46 lawmakers.
Abdul Kadir Karding, head of the executive board of PKB, which has 28 lawmakers in the chamber, said the party would be consistent with its past position on the issue.
He also chided other lawmakers for threatening the government. "Don't manipulate every single political issue. We are here to take care of the nation, not to play with it," he told the Jakarta Globe on Sunday. "This [kind of move] will destroy the nation, these insignificant maneuvers."
During the House's special inquiry into the bailout, PKB and PAN voted alongside the Democrats in March to find no wrongdoing. However, the six other parties voted that the rescue violated laws and recommended criminal investigations.
Critics, who hold Vice President Boediono responsible for the bailout, have since said the investigation has not been progressing. Boediono was head of Bank Indonesia at the time of the rescue.
Last year, a group of lawmakers led by Bambang Soesatyo, from Golkar, tried to initiate the right to express an opinion. But with 148 Democrat lawmakers, or 26 percent of the 560-seat House, it was virtually impossible for the initiative to advance given the 75 percent quorum required at the time.
Following the court decision last week to lower from three-fourths to two-thirds the quorum needed for the right to express an opinion, Bambang said they would consider the move if no concrete progress was seen in the criminal probes.
However, if PAN and PKB stick with the Democrats, the three parties would comprise 39 percent of the House – still enough votes to block any attempts at expressing an opinion.
Even the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), the largest opposition party, isn't keen on revisiting the Bank Century scandal.
PDI-P faction chairman Tjahjo Kumolo said his party would be careful in responding to the issue, as PDI-P did not want to be manipulated by other parties for their own interests.
Deputy Speaker Pramono Anung, also from PDI-P, has said the new court ruling would serve as ammunition for the coalition partners in terms of their bargaining position. "There will be a trade-off with the ruling power," he said.
Bambang, however, said he believed anything was still possible if the people wanted it.
"It's not impossible, look what happened with the Bank Century [special inquiry], at first it looked impossible to gain support, but in the end we got so many of them," he said, referring to the fact that six out of nine parties in the House voted that the bailout was illegal back in March. "Why? Because they don't want to lose people's support."
Saldi Isra, a legal expert from Andalas University in West Sumatra, doesn't agree with Bambang's optimism, however. He said it would be very difficult to initiate the right unless there was widespread public support. Even then, he said, it was unlikely to result in impeachment.
The process entails forming a special committee through a plenary session to re-examine the result of the bailout investigation. The plenary would then forward its arguments to the Constitutional Court. If both branches agreed, the House could forward a proposal to impeach to the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR).