CENTURY INQUIRY COMMITTEE NOT FOCUSED : AMIEN RAIS

Magelang, Central Java, Jan 18 (ANTARA) - Former People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) chairman Amien Rais said the House Bank Century Inquiry Committee had lost focus giving rise to concern the issue might drag on indefinitely.

"The House special inquiry committee's investigation is losing focus. It has even been dragged into debating the ethics of posing questions to witnesses. This would eventually obscure the real problem," Rais said after addressing a gathering held by the country's second largest Islamic organization Muhammadiyah here on Sunday.

He said the committee should focus its investigation on officials who had allegedly misappropriated the bailout funds amounting to Rp6.7 trillion.

"I have doubts about whether the inquiry committee is able to settle the case because it is not focused on the alleged treacherous officials who were expected to protect the people's money but instead embezzled it," he said.

Rais who is also a former chairman of Muhammadiyah, said that if the committee was not focused it was not likely to be able to settle the Bank Century case.

"We hope that the special House inquiry committee will not leave the bailout case unresolved," he said.

He said honesty in this country had become a very rare commodity while the problems being faced by the nation had increasingly become heavier and heavier.

"Our nation cannot make any progress because it has lost one of the most valuable virtues in life which is honesty," he said.

He said that honesty would encourage people to do praiseworthy things as a main asset in paradise. On the other hand, lies would encourage people to become deceitful and hypocrite and this would only cause losses to the state and take the liars to hell.