IMPEACHMENT DISCOURSE NOT RAISED AT ALL AT MPR-PRESIDENT MEETING

Jakarta, Feb 25 (ANTARA) - The impeachment discourse was not raised at all at the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) leaders' meeting with President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono here Thursday.

"It was possible for me to talk about that matter (impeachment) at the meeting," MPR Chairman Taufik Kiemas told reporters following the meeting, held at the presidential palace here.

Kiemas said the purpose of MPR leaders' coming was to inform the president on the assembly's plenary session due to be held on March 1.

The plenary session's main agenda was discussing and approving the MPR's internal rules of conduct which were actually to have been completed six months after the MPR leaders were sworn in, he said.

At the meeting, the MPR leaders also invited President Yudhoyono to attend the commemoration of the birth of Pancasila, Indonesia's states ideology, the MPR would organize on June 1, 2010, he said.

Kiemas said he had called on the government to make more intnsive efforts to familiarize the people with the four pillars of the country's nation and statehood, namely the Pancasila, Constitution, unity in diversity, and the unitary state of the Republic of Indonesia concept.

At the press conference, Kiemas reiterated his objections to impeachment when touching on the implications of the preliminary outcome of the parliamentary probe into the Bank Century issue.

"For me, impeachment is unacceptable It is too costly and a saddening way to solve a national problem," he said.

Kiemas further said none of the party factions in the House of Representatives' (DPR) Bank Century Inquiry Committee had mentioned impeachment in their respective stances on the probe.

Sharing Kiemas' views, MPR's Vice Chairman Lukman Hakim Saefuddin said nobody at the meeting used the word "impeachment".

"For clarification, no one talked about impeachment. Nobody did and even the word was never used during the meeting," he said.

According to the presidential office, the MPR leaders' meeting with President Yudhoyono was held for "communication purposes."
It took place two days after all the party factions in the DPR's Bank Century Inquiry Committee had made known their respective stances on the government's decision to spend Rp6.7 trillion to rescue the troubled bank.

At the meeting, President Yudhoyono was accompanied by a number of key cabinet members and Armed Forces Chief Gen.Djoko Santoso.

Among the ministers were Coordinating Minister for Political, Legal and Security Affairs Djoko Suyanto and Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs Hatta Radjasa.

Also on hand were Coordinating Minister for the People's Welfare Agung Laksono, Cabinet Secretary Sudi Silalahi, Home Minister Gamawan Fauzi, and Education Minister M.Nuh.

The presidential office said MPR Chairman Taufik Kiemas was accompanied by Melani Leimena Suharli, Hajrianto Tohari, Lukman Hakim Saefuddin, and Ahmad Farhan Hamid.

Boediono and Mulyani
Vice President Boediono, a former Bank Indonesia (BI) governor, and Finance Minister Sri Mulyani were among those named by several party factions as responsible for the Bank Century scandal.
Among the factions that had mentioned Boediono, Sri Mulyani, and other government officials were the Indonesian Democratic Party-Struggle (PDIP), the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS), and Golkar Party.

The central government has come under sharp public ridicule over its decision to rescue failed Bank Century with a total of Rp6.7 trillion in bailout funds.

About the impeachment issue, President Yudhoyono had repeatedly warned certain elements in the society not even to think about it.

In his address at a National Defense Forces (TNI) leadership meeting at the TNI Headquarters in Cilangkap, East Jakarta, on January 25, he touched on the matter.

At the time, President Yudhoyono called on the parliament to stop thinking it can impeach him by a "no-confidence vote" over the Bank Century case.

"In the presidential system we adhere to under the amended 1945 Constitution, the president cannot dissolve the House of Representatives (DPR), the Regional Representatives Council (DPD) or the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR)," he said.

Therefore, the parliament should not think it could any time impeach the president or government "in the culture of no-confidence votes", he said.

He said the rules on impeachment were clear enough. Impeachment could happen when one or more of the following conditions applied: when the president and vice president were incapacitated to perform their duties, they had committed a serious criminal offense, or treason, corruption, were involved in bribery, or done any other dishonorable thing.
"This is all very clearly stated in the law. The rules are plain enough, they cannot be bent this or that way like a piece of rubber," President Yudhoyono said.