The proposal was made in response to the fact that the government and law enforcers were not yet able to settle alleged cases of tax mafia that had caused hundreds of trillions of rupiahs in losses to the state.
"We gather support from the DPR members to form a House special inquiry committee. We have submitted the list of signatures to the House," Nudirman Munir of the House Commission III on legal affairs said.
The proposal which was signed by 30 legislators was handed over to the House leadership on Monday and was received by House Deputy Speaker Priyo Budi Santoso.
The proposal was among others signed by Nudirman Munir and Bambang Soesatyo of the Golkar faction, Sucipto of the Democrat Party faction, Bahruddin Nashori of the National Awakening Party faction, Ahmad Yani of the United Development Party (PPP), Syeh Buchori Yusuf of the Prosperous Justice Party faction (PKS), Gayus Lumbuun and Eva Kusuma Sundari of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle faction (PDI-P), Yadil Harahap of the National Mandate Party faction (PAN), and Desmond J Mahesa of the Great Indonesia Movement Party faction (Gerindra).
According to Nudirman, the proposal was made because the settlement of the tax case of former taxman Gayus HP Tambunan was too slow. "Moreover, as a result of tax mafia alleged operations, the state suffers losses up to hundreds of trillions of rupiah," he said.
Ahmad Yani of PPP said tax leakages should be halted soon because the state had suffered a loss of up to Rp300 trillion annually. If this could be overcome, the government does not need to ask for help from overseas and the people could enjoy prosperity.
He said that he was convinced that the proposal would be accepted because it had the aim to increase state revenues. "We promise to uncover transparently and uncompromisingly the tax mafia in the country through this special committee," he said.
However, several legislators from the Democrat Party faction said the formation of a tax mafia inquiry committee had no strong basis.
"We have to question the basis of the proposal to set up an inquiry committee. Is the basis coming from the media reports or from rumors or from tax payers?," Achsanul Qosasi of the ruling Democrat Party faction, questioned.
He said that up to now no tax-payers had complained or disclosed the presence of a tax mafia. So, he questioned the basis for the formation of a special inquiry committee.
Achsanul said that the House Commission XI which dealt with financial and budget affairs had discussed the tax mafia case and found that the main problem of all this was the need by the State Audit Board (BPK) to conduct an investigative auditing.
"Actually, BPK has conducted an investigative auditing on two firms often mentioned by the media. The result of the auditing has been handed over to the House Commission XI and the Commission has agreed the formation of a special committee. So, our colleagues who are proposing to set up an inquiry committee have no clear basis," he said.
Therefore, he said, the formation of a special inquiry committee on tax mafia is still too far if it is not supported by valid and accurate data. "The proposal to form the committee is a remote possibility because data that we received are not enough to support the idea," Achsanul Qosasih.
Therefore, he said, the Democrat Party (PD) did not agree with the proposal to form a tax mafia inquiry committee.
His colleague in the same faction, Muhammad Jafar Hafsah, also voiced the same thing. "The Democrat Party faction has not yet decided its attitude on the proposal to set up an tax mafia inquiry committee," Muhammad Jafa Hafsah who is also the faction chairman said.
He said that it was not yet too urgent to form an inquiry committee on tax mafia because the matter still could be tackled by a tax working committee in the Commission level as far as the work of the working committee could be maximized.
In the meantime, legislators who submitted the proposal on Monday questioned the House leaders who had not yet discussed the proposal in the House plenary on Tuesday.
Nudirman Munir and Arya Bima of the PDI-P questioned the fact that on Monday the plenary had not yet discussed it.
"We submitted the proposal which was signed by 30 lawmakers from nine House factions. But it did not included in today?s plenary ,"Nudirman said during the plenary which was chaired by Deputy House Speaker Priyo Budi Santoso on Tuesday.
He said that based on the mechanism, the proposal should have been deliberated directly. "Based on the mechanism, the proposal is submitted to the plenary," he said.
Yet, House Speaker Priyo Budi Santoso promised that the House would not annul or impede the proposal. "Yesterday, I received the proposal which was signed by about 30 legislators from nine House factions. The House leadership would not drop it," Priyo said.
"Yesterday, the proposal happened to be discussed with several House leaders and some agreed to discuss it at a leadership meeting so that it could not yet be deliberated at the plenary today," he said.
He said that the leadership would hand over the matter to the plenary for acceptance or refusal. "If the proposal is accepted it will than be handed over to the House`s Assembly Board (Bamus)," he said.
Priyo said that the House would discuss the proposal at its plenary on Wednesday. "It is impossible for the leadership to drop the proposal but to deliberate it in the next plenary," he said.(*)
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Reporter: Andi Abdussalam
Editor: Jafar M Sidik
Copyright © ANTARA 2011
