GOVT NOT OBLIGED TO ACCEPT HOUSE RECOMMENDATION : SPEAKER

Jakarta, Feb 5 (ANTARA) - House Speaker Marzuki Alie said it was not a must for the government to accept the House of Representatives (DPR)'s recommendations on the follow up steps it should take regarding the Bank Century case.

"Is it a must for the government to accept the recommendations? A recommendation can or cannot be accepted so that there is no need for the House to supervise its implementation," the House speaker said here on Friday.

Marzuki Alie made the remark in reply to a question raised by ANTARA with regard to the House's suggestion that a special team be set up to monitor the implementation by the government of the House recommendations, namely to follow up alleged violations in the Bank Century case.

He said that the recommendation was not a binding decision so that it was not necessary for the House to supervise its implementation.

Alie said that follow-up actions on the recommendation would depend on the law enforcing agencies whether or not they would take a follow up action.

He said that if the law enforcing agencies did not take follow-up actions, it did not mean that the DPR inquiry was useless. It indicated that the House has worked and showed its political stance.

"Hadn't it formed an inquiry committee the public could have accused that the House had not worked," he said.

The DPR at a plenary session this week determined its final stance on the Bank Century scandal through a vote on two options: Option A which justified the government's bailout policy, and Option C which ridiculed it.

The DPR recommended that law enforcing institutions should take follow up actions, namely against those who were responsible for violations.

In its decision during the plenary, the House also recommended the establishment of a House special team in charge of monitoring the implementation of the recommendations.

With regard to the establishment of the special team, Alie said that the House would see first what would develop next.

"We will see first the opinion of the House members, whether it will be left to the general mechanism, namely Commission III on legal affairs, or an adhoc body must be formed," he said.