Lawmakers yet to bury hatchet with Bibit, Chandra
Erwida Maulia, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Mon, 01/31/2011 1:15 PM
The House of Representatives' law commission on Monday halted a hearing with the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) for more than half an hour, with several lawmakers rejecting the presence of KPK deputy chiefs Bibit Samad Riyanto and Chandra M. Hamzah.
The hearing had been scheduled to begin at 10 a.m. to discuss a number of cases handled by the commission, among other issues.
Until almost 11 a.m., however, several members of House Commission III overseeing legal affairs were involved in heated debate over whether Bibit and Chandra should be present.
Commission leaders then announced that the meeting would be postponed for 15 minutes to decide on the issue, but after more than half an hour the meeting still had not been restarted.
Bibit and Chandra were allegedly involved in a bribery and extortion case, but the Attorney General's Office (AGO) decided to halt an investigation into the case, with the public widely believing the pair to be innocent.
Lawmakers, however, are divided between those who reject and approve the AGO decision.
Among those who rejected Bibit and Chandra's presence at the hearing were lawmakers from the Golkar Party, the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), and the Prosperous Justice Party (PPP).
