Govt to Handle Democrat Party Congress Fiasco Professionally

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Law and Human Rights Minister Yasonna Laoly on Tuesday said that the government will remain professional and objective in assessing the result of the Democrat Party extraordinary congress in Deli Serdang, North Sumatra, which was initiated by a certain group of senior party members.

Yasonna said that the government will judge the legitimacy of the party’s congress solely based on the existing law and the party’s rules of association and internal bylaws (AD/ART).

“We will act professionally that corresponds to existing laws,” said Yasonna Laoly at the Senayan Parliamentary Complex on March 9.

He explained that the Ministry’s director-general of legal administration accepted the visit of Democrat Party Chairman Agus Harimurti Yudhoyono (AHY) on Monday, March 8. AHY's official complaint on this visit was also reported to Yasonna. 

However, Yasonna said the Law and Human Rights Ministry currently views the controversy surrounding the extraordinary congress as an internal polemic within a political party, in this case, the Democrat Party. He noted that the people who initiated the congress have yet filed a report on the results of the congress to the Ministry. 

Yasonna Laoly also warned AHY, as well as his father Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (SBY) - who is a senior Democrat Party member, to avert issuing baseless accusations against the government. 

This issue garnered attention as the Democrat Party extraordinary congress arbitrarily voted for the currently-active Presidential Chief of Staff Moeldoko as the Party leader and shunted aside AHY. 

Read: AHY, Democrat Party Officials to Visit Law and Human Rights Ministry Today

BUDIARTI UTAMI PUTRI