PRESIDENT'S ADDRESS DEFENSIVE : OBSERVER

Jakarta, March 5 (ANTARA) - Political and social sciences professor of the University of Indonesia (UI) Maswadi Rauf said President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's address on Thursday night was defensive in nature.

"Yudhoyono still upheld his previous attitude that he had stated earlier before the House of Representatives (DPR) made a decision (on the Bank Century case). The President should not have raised again a problem that was finished by the DPR in its plenary. He should accept it," Maswadi Rauf said at the parliament building here on Friday.

The political observer said that the decision taken by the DPR plenary where it chose Option C represented the aspirations of the people. Option C stated that there were violations in the extension of the Bank Century bailout amounting to Rp6.7 trillion.

Maswadi Rauf said what the President had to do now was to support the next steps that had to be taken in the legal process because the DPR could not decide the names of persons who were obviously guilty.

"The results of the House Century Inquiry Committee should motivate the Corruption Eradication Commission KPK) to act more intensively. What is important is to find those who are guilty and to punish them," he said.

He said the president's statement saying that there were no flows of funds from the bailout disbursement to a certain political party was ethical because there was no proof and the inquiry committee could not find any concrete evidence about it.

"What is unethical is that when the President said that there was no problem with the Bank Century case," he said.

He said that alleged violations in the Bank Century case was still in the stage of indications. "Now, it is still in the form of the House opinion, not yet in the form of a legal fact," he added.