PAN lawmaker voted to lead House inquiry into fuel price increase

Andra Wisnu ,  The Jakarta Post ,  Jakarta   |  Thu, 07/10/2008 10:14 AM  |  National

The House of Representatives' committee to investigate the government's decision to raise fuel prices will be led by the National Mandate Party's (PAN) Zulkifli Hasan.

Zulkifli secured 28 out of 48 votes at a special meeting of the committee on Wednesday, beating out Bambang Wuryanto of the Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), Efiardi Asda of the United Development Party (PPP), Sutan Bhatoegana of the Democratic Party and Azhar Romli of the Golkar Party.

"Zulkifli is a good choice. We have always insisted on a member of one of the three parties that supported the creation of the inquiry committee to lead it," PDI-P lawmaker Ganjar Pranowo said.

"This way, it won't create public discontent."

The House proposed the creation of the committee on June 4, to investigate the reasons behind the government's May 24 decision to raise fuel prices by an average of 28.7 percent.

Critics say the government had not exhausted all options to keep the fuel subsidy in check, including reducing national spending or oil imports.

The committee's next step will be to appoint legislators to a panel to oversee the questioning and determine who will testify.

"If the committee leader acts fast, we can start as early as next week," Ganjar said.

The decision ends weeks of squabbling among legislators on who should lead the committee.

PAN, PDI-P and PPP were among the major parties that voted for the inquiry, while Vice President Jusuf Kalla's Golkar Party and President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's Democratic Party voted against it.

Golkar and PDI-P are the two largest parties at the House.

Hari Azhar Aziz of Golkar said his party wanted to lead the committee to ensure the inquiry was productive and not politicized.

"The point is the result should be a recommendation or an official criticism, because the government has already explained why it resorted to raising fuel prices," Hari said.

Suspicion has been brewing the inquiry could lead to Yudhoyono's impeachment. A 2001 House inquiry into the misappropriation of Rp 35 billion (US$3.8 million) of State Logistics Agency funds led to the impeachment of former president Abdurrahman "Gus Dur" Wahid.

The Attorney General's Office later cleared Gus Dur of any involvement in the case.

Hari said he expected the inquiry to involve major players in the oil industry.

"It will send a message to the public about the state of the country's energy sources. If any oil company executives fail to show up, that will already say something about their company," he said.

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