New conclusion emerges from lobbying session

After three hours of lobbying, the leaders of the House of Representatives had yet to reach an agreement on the Bank Century bailout case and instead a proposal for a new alternative conclusion on the case emerged.

"This new alternative conclusion comes from the Democratic Party," one of the House deputy speakers, Pramono Anung from the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), told reporters at the House in Jakarta on Wednesday.

Pramono added that the new alternative was a combination of the previous two conclusions, which contradicted one another.

"The formulation is not clear yet. It seems like this is another effort to buy more time," he said.

As of Wednesday evening things were not looking good for the government’s bloc, which supports the Bank Century bailout policy, as five out of nine parties at the House of Representatives officially said that they deemed the policy as flawed.

The anti-bailout parties are the Golkar Party, the PDI-P, the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS), the Greater Indonesian Movement Party (Gerindra) and the People’s Conscience Party (Hanura).

In total, those parties consist of 292 out of 542 legislators currently attending the plenary session that would decide the House final stance and recommendation on the Bank Century case, which revolved around a November 2008 bailout that jumped to Rp 6.76 trillion (US$716 million) from its original estimation.

Only President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono’s Democratic Party along with the National Mandate Party (PAN) and the National Awakening Party (PKB) say the bailout policy as the correct one for the country in the midst of the global crisis.

In total, the pro-bailout bloc consists of only 216 legislators.

The United Development Party (PPP), as of Wednesday evening, had yet to give any clear official stance on the case.

However, numerous PPP legislators, insisting to remain anonymous, said that there was a great possibility for their party to shift into anti-bailout bloc.

This condition, should the plenary go to voting, will surely benefit the bloc that stands against the bailout and could pose potential danger towards Vice President Boediono and Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati.

Boediono, who was the then Bank Indonesia governor when the bailout was issued, and Mulyani were the individuals that gave the final authorization on the policy and have been considered by many as the most responsible individuals.