Legislators at the House of Representatives are considering boycotting future hearings with Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati, claims one parliamentarian, in the latest fallout from the inquiry into the Bank Century bailout.
House budget committee chairman Hari Azhar Azis, from the Golkar Party, told The Jakarta Post on Tuesday that some committee members had “lost faith” in Mulyani following the House’s adoption last week of a resolution that could lead to a criminal investigation into the finance minister as well as Vice President Boediono for engineering the November 2008 bailout.
Legislators from three governing coalition parties — Golkar, the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) and the United Development Party (PPP) — have broken ranks with President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono’s Democratic Party in denouncing the bailout as unjustified.
“Some of the budget committee members say they have no problem with meeting Mulyani in a personal capacity, but not as the finance minister,” Hari said.
The finance minister represents the government in deliberations of the state budget at the House.
He added he would leave the decision to boycott hearings with the finance minister to the House.
“On this issue, I’ll listen to what the other committee members say and leave it to a House plenary session to make a final decision,” he said.
House Speaker Marzuki Alie, from the Democratic Party, called the planned boycott “regrettable” and “unwise”.
“The state budget is a crucial issue for the state and the public, and so boycotting the hearings would be unwise,” he said.
He added he would seek to clarify the regulations governing individual legislators’ right to boycott a hearing.
“House legislators are supposed to carry out their jobs, including attending hearings with ministers and other government officials,” he said.
He called on all budget committee members to grant Mulyani and other officials implicated in the Century bailout the benefit of the doubt.
“A boycott implies they’ve assumed these officials are guilty,” he said.
Budget committee member Muhammad Romahurmuziy, from the PPP, told the Post his party would not support any boycott of Mulyani.
“If a boycott does take place, this country will be in a rut,” he said.
During a dinner with foreign journalists, Mulyani said the boycott would be self-defeating.
“If [the House] refuses the revision, that means we have to use the existing budget, they will have to increase electricity tariff as of January, we cannot increase the rice subsidy for the poor, and we cannot accelerate infrastructure projects,” she said.
“The budget revision is positive for everybody; the House should overcome their objections and put the interests of the nation ahead of those of their parties.”
Mulyani represents the government in deliberations of the state budget at the House.
