Amien and SBY agree to disagree

The Jakarta Post , Jakarta | Tue, 05/29/2007 8:38 AM

Sri Wahyuni and Slamet Susanto, The Jakarta Post, Yogyakarta

Indonesia's President on Sunday asked for and received forgiveness from the former speaker of the People's Consultative Assembly Amien Rais over a controversial ministerial fund.

In a twelve minute meeting requested by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and held at an airport before Yudhoyono's departure to Malaysia, the leaders agreed to leave the issue of the illegal fund in the hands of the Corruption Eradication Commission.

""We have had a kind of mutual and symbiotic forgiveness,"" Amien told a press conference Monday in Yogyakarta.

The ""mutual forgiveness"" Amien said was achieved Sunday morning at Halim Perdanakusuma Airport.

Amien said he received a call from the State Palace on Saturday evening asking whether he was willing to meet Yudhoyono.

""I said, why not, but I said as long as it was not at the State Palace.""

Yudhoyono said he had met Amien in a meeting arranged by State Secretary Hatta Radjasa.

""I just want to show the people that we leaders may have differences but (we can maintain) relations,"" Yudhoyono said.

Amien said the President apologized for speeches or statements that might have increased tension between the leaders.

""And I asked for the same forgiveness.

""I apologized for various seminars and speeches ... if I ever used plesetan (slipped words) that might have been perceived by SBY as (negative).""

Amien, who is also former chairman of the National Mandate Party, has admitted publicly to receiving Rp 200 million (US$22,700) from former fishery and marine affairs minister Rokhmin Dahuri -- and another Rp 200 million from a member of Dahuri's campaign team.

The former speaker suggested the President had received the same money from Rokhmin, who is currently on trial for alleged misuse of the ministry's non-budgetary fund.

Yudhoyono had also received illegal international donations for his successful 2004 election campaign, Amien said.

Yudhoyono has denied all allegations.

The leaders said three points were discussed during their short meeting: the need for reopening previously ""clogged up"" communication; the need for eradicating any misunderstanding between them; and to agree to allow the corruption agency to deal with matters of law.

Amien said he did not want to impeach the President because it was ""not a simple matter"".

However, MPR Speaker Hidayat Nurwahid said, ""The President and the Vice President could be impeached if both are proven guilty of breaching the law, as stipulated by Article 8 of the 1945 Constitution"".

Comments (0) | Post comment

A | A | A |