Present at the meeting were some members of the MPR Working Committees andchairmen of House Factions. The meeting discussed three points including thepossibility of accelerating the special session; ignoring the proposedmeeting of political heads that President Abdurrahman Wahid had organisedfor Monday (9/7) and attention was also given to six proposals of theNational Awakening Party (PKB) regarding the upcoming Special Session,proposals that were raised at the plenary meeting of the MPR WorkingCommittee last week (3/7).
Sutjipto, the spokesperson of this gathering, said that the meetingconstituted a preliminary meeting of the MPR Working Committee's plenarysession that would be held on Monday (9/7). Discussing the negotiations heldso far during previous meetings Sutjipto claimed that they had also achieveda consensus concerning what process to take for confirming the timing of theMPR Special Session. He suggested that one possible justification forholding the session before August 1 (the original date set) would be if thePresident made any replacements of leadership in the top ranks of theIndonsian Police or the Indonesian Military.
Regarding the meeting scheduled for Monday by President Wahid, Fahmi Idrisfrom Golkar Party said that such a meeting could only be held if allchairmen of the parties were present. "The discussion can not be carried outbecause leaders of PDIP and PAN will not be present. And it looks likelythat the PPP's chairman will not be present either," he said. At the sametime, Mahadi Sinambela from the Golkar Party supported the idea, "If themeeting invited chairmen of the five parties, but one of the chairmen wasnot present, the meeting would not be legitimate," Mahadi said. (SamCahyadi)