Ridwan Max Sijabat and Bagus BT Saragih, Jakarta – Lawmakers are garnering support for a no-confidence motion against Vice President Boediono with the Golkar Party, the biggest faction in the House of Representatives, now lending support to the move.
They said Boediono, who was then Bank Indonesia (BI) governor, should be held accountable for the controversial Rp 6.7 trillion (US$696.8 million) bailout of Bank Century in 2008.
Golkar faction secretary Ade Komaruddin confirmed on Friday that his faction would back lawmakers in exercising their political rights.
"Our faction fully supports the no-confidence motion as a means to solve this years-long scandal. It should be resolved, albeit politically," Ade said, adding that the House's Century monitoring team would end its mandate by the end of this year.
Fellow Golkar lawmaker Bambang Soesatyo said the House members were making the move because Boediono played a decisive role in disbursing the huge fund to bail out Bank Century (now renamed Bank Mutiara).
Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) chairman Abraham Samad revealed on Thursday that Boediono – who was governor of BI in 2004-2005 – had played a major role in the bank bailout and two BI officials, Siti Fadjrijah and Budi Mulia, had formally been named suspects.
During the House's initial inquiry into this bailout in 2010, former finance minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati said she could not be solely blamed for the scandal because Bank Century was bailed out at the BI governor's approval.
The no-confidence motion requires the signatures of at least 25 lawmakers before it can formally be submitted to the House's plenary session for approval. Once it is approved, the House can call for a special session of the People's Consultative Assembly to impeach the Vice President.
So far, Golkar has been the only major faction that is at the forefront of this political maneuver.
The Democratic Party, the National Mandate Party (PAN) and the National Awakening Party (PKB) have rejected the idea, while the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) and the United Development Party (PPP) are in a wait-and-see mode.
Democratic Party deputy chairman Max Sopacua regretted the political maneuver by Golkar, which is a member of the governing coalition. He also suggested political parties rely on the KPK to handle the case. "Our faction will oppose any moves to bring the scandal into politicking," he said.
Former PKS chairman Hidayat Nur Wahid said his faction would rely on the KPK in investigating the scandal "but if the KPK is not serious with its investigation, the House should go on with a no-confidence motion."
The Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) faction chairwoman Puan Maharani said her faction was of the same opinion that the KPK should investigate the scandal thoroughly and the House should not turn it into a political issue.
"The KPK should be given a chance to carry out a thorough investigation and bring all those involved in the scandal to justice," she said. The PDI-P is the third-biggest faction at the House after the Democratic Party and Golkar.
The Great Indonesian Movement Party (Gerindra) and the People's Conscience Party (Hanura), two minority factions at the House, said they had yet to decide upon their political stance.
PDI-P lawmaker Gandjar Pranowo said the KPK should investigate the alleged involvement of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono in the scandal, because from a public administration point of view, it seemed unlikely that the President did not know about the bailout.
"If the KPK finds the President knew about the decision, then he is lying to the public because he has testified that he himself knew nothing about the bailout process," he said.
Presidential spokesman Julian Aldrin Pasha said on Friday that Yudhoyono was aware of the recent political move by lawmakers to begin collecting support to initiate the impeachment of Boediono. Julian refused to comment when asked if the President had issued a directive to respond to the politicians' move.