DPR criticizes political bills<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): The House of Representatives (DPR) questioned
\nthe government on Wednesday over three political bills it had
\nsubmitted for deliberation last month.<\/p>\n
All four House factions argued in a plenary session that the
\nbills still had many loopholes which could be taken advantage of
\nto manipulate and distort elections.<\/p>\n
In the second reading of the bills, attended by Minister of
\nHome Affairs Lt. Gen. Syarwan Hamid, the Golkar, United
\nDevelopment Party (PPP), Armed Forces (ABRI) and Indonesian
\nDemocratic Party (PDI) factions agreed the drafts needed
\nimprovement.<\/p>\n
The three bills being deliberated are on general elections (74
\narticles), political parties (19 articles) and the structure and
\nfunction of the DPR, the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) and
\nthe provincial and regency legislatures (DPRD I and DPRD II) (50
\narticles).<\/p>\n
The government submitted the bills in a bid to change current
\npolitical laws which have been widely criticized for being
\nundemocratic and favoring the dominant Golkar party.<\/p>\n
The PPP and PDI factions argued on Wednesday that the new bill
\non political parties still benefited Golkar.<\/p>\n
PPP faction spokesman Robbani Thoha and PDI faction spokesman
\nBambang Mintoko pointed out that the floating mass concept, which
\nthe New Order regime used to effectively ban political parties
\nfrom establishing branches in the subdistrict and village levels,
\nwould be still in effect under the bill.<\/p>\n
The two factions called for the policy -- retained in the
\nbill's article 11 that stipulates that political parties can only
\nhave chapters in the Jakarta or in provincial or regency capitals
\n-- to be scrapped. The Golkar and ABRI factions did not draw
\nattention to the article.<\/p>\n
Members of the civil servants corps (Korpri) -- used by Golkar
\nover the past 32 years to mobilize people in the subdistrict and
\nvillage level -- should be free to join any political party, the
\nPDI and PPP spokesmen said.<\/p>\n
\"The floating mass policy employed all these years by the New
\nOrder has distanced people from political parties and has
\nsystematically depoliticized them,\" Mintoko said.<\/p>\n
\"Civil servants and ABRI members must be returned to their
\nfunctions as neutral servants of the public ... unburdened by
\npolitical missions,\" he added.<\/p>\n
Regarding the bill on general elections, PPP suggested
\nelections be conducted on a holiday or a day declared a national
\nholiday to avoid \"political engineering\".<\/p>\n
On the combined \"district and proportional\" electoral system
\nproposed, all four factions questioned whether necessary changes
\nto the current system would be ready by the next elections slated
\nfor May 1999. PPP said necessary changes would serve only to
\n\"divert and cover up problems\" rather than fixing existing
\nproblems created by the current proportional electoral system
\nused. Numerous abuses were reported in last year's elections.<\/p>\n
In response, Minister of Home Affairs Syarwan Hamid later told
\njournalists: \"For us as the poll organizer, it's a challenge ...
\nWe can no longer postpone the poll, can we?\"<\/p>\n
However, he stressed the current bills were \"not a fixed
\nprice\" and were open to change.<\/p>\n
Earlier, on the DPR\/MPR bill, ABRI, PPP and PDI questioned why
\nthe government proposed members of the DPRD I and II be elected
\nby current legislators.<\/p>\n
PPP called the stipulation stated in article 47 \"bizarre\".<\/p>\n
It also questioned why 205, or 30 percent, of the 700 DPR\/MPR
\nmembers should be appointed and not elected, arguing the number
\nwas too high.<\/p>\n
The bill stipulates that the DPR be made up of 495 elected
\nmembers and 55 appointed members from ABRI. To form the 700-
\nmember MPR, the 550 members would be supplemented with 81
\nregional representatives (from the DPRD I and II) and 69 group
\nrepresentatives.<\/p>\n
PPP was the only faction that questioned the allocation of
\nseats for ABRI, while PDI said it could understand why the
\nmilitary should still be allotted representation.<\/p>\n
Quoting Article 27 of the 1945 Constitution which states all
\ncitizens are equal, PPP asked why the government wished to give
\nspecial privileges to ABRI in the bill.<\/p>\n
Deputy House Speaker Hari Sabarno of the ABRI faction, who
\npresided over the plenary session, told the government
\nrepresentatives to respond to the House's questions on Oct. 21.
\n(aan)<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/dpr-criticizes-political-bills-1447893297",
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