Experts lament failure on direct election<\/p>\n
Muhammad Nafik and Bambang Nurbianto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
Political observers lashed out on Saturday at the country's
\nhighest legislature for failing to reach an agreement on
\nconstitutional reforms to adopt a direct presidential election,
\nwhich has been a popular issue among the public.<\/p>\n
They said all 700 members of the People's Consultative
\nAssembly (MPR) had ignored the public's aspirations and placed
\ntheir own political interests first.<\/p>\n
\"It has failed to respond to the wishes of the people. It has
\nbeen a disappointing decision. Members of the MPR are still
\nfighting for the narrow interests of their own groups,\" noted
\nscholar Azyumardi Azra.<\/p>\n
He said the failure to agree on a direct presidential election
\nwould create further political uncertainty, which had been
\nworsened by unclear policies aimed at restoring peace and
\nsecurity.<\/p>\n
Azyumardi, rector of Jakarta's Syarif Hidayatullah State
\nInstitute for Islamic Studies (IAIN), said the MPR's decision
\nwould hamper the National Election Commission's (KPU) efforts to
\ndraw up guidelines for general polls in 2004.<\/p>\n
The MPR wrapped up its nine-day Annual Session on Friday
\nevening, having decided to postpone debates until next year on
\nthe fundamental issues of direct presidential elections and the
\nnew composition of the Assembly.<\/p>\n
In principle, all factions in the Assembly had agreed to allow
\nvoters to elect the president in a direct ballot, but were
\ndivided on how to do it if the presidential and vice presidential
\ncandidates could not win by a simple majority.<\/p>\n
Most factions have agreed to the idea to hold a second round
\nof the direct presidential election if the candidates won less
\nthan 50 percent of the votes, but President Megawati
\nSoekarnoputri's Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI
\nPerjuangan) wanted the final mechanism left to the MPR to decide.<\/p>\n
Also lamenting the MPR's decision was another political
\nanalyst Fachry Ali who saw the possible practice of money
\npolitics behind the failure to agree on the constitutional
\nreforms.<\/p>\n
\"It's regretful. The most substantial issue to be discussed at
\nthe Annual Session should have been the presidential election.
\nSince there has not been any decision, there should be no more
\nsuch meetings,\" he told The Jakarta Post.<\/p>\n
However, he could not say whether the political interests of
\neach faction in the Assembly had prompted the postponement of
\ndiscussions on the mechanism of next presidential elections.<\/p>\n
Fachry said the poor constitutional rules on the presidential
\nelections had been a contributing factor to the prevailing
\npolitical uncertainty and the threat of social disintegration.
\n\"The issue should have been a priority.\"<\/p>\n
He also questioned the agreement by the Assembly to hold a
\nsecond round of the presidential election if the candidates could
\nnot win a simple majority. \"I don't understand why there should
\nbe a second election.\"<\/p>\n
He said that in normal electoral procedures, the candidate,
\nwho won the first round of a presidential election, should be
\ninaugurated as the president. \"There is no need for a second
\nround.\"<\/p>\n
Noted constitutional law expert Harun Al Rasyid also voiced
\nhis disappointment over the Assembly's decision to delay
\ndeliberating the crucial articles of the 1945 Constitution.<\/p>\n
\"I do not see any strong reason why the MPR has postponed
\ndecisions on the constitutional amendments,\" he told the Post.<\/p>\n
Harun also questioned the MPR's move to avoid a voting
\nmechanism to decide whether to go ahead with debates on the
\nconstitutional reforms or delay them until next year's Annual
\nSession.<\/p>\n
\"Why did they avoid the voting mechanism again? Voting is a
\nconstitutional way to take a decision,\" Harun, of the University
\nof Indonesia, told the Post.<\/p>\n
He said the nation's top legislative body had taken a wrong
\nstep at the beginning when it abandoned the early process of
\nconstitutional amendment, although legislators knew the
\nConstitution contained many fundamental loopholes and required
\nmajor changes.<\/p>\n
Harun, who was appointed by ousted president Abdurrahman Wahid
\nto lead a government amendment team earlier this year, said the
\nAssembly should have set up a constitutional commission in 1999
\nto create a new constitution to replace the current one.<\/p>\n
According to him, even though it was too late now to form a
\nconstitutional commission, the MPR should have speeded up the
\namendment process and taken the courageous decision to change the
\noutdated Constitution.<\/p>\n
\"If they still have no courage to make a decision through a
\nvoting mechanism, they are like the MPR during Soeharto's New
\nOrder era. The public are disappointed as they are waiting for
\nconcrete results from the Assembly's sessions,\" Harun added.<\/p>",
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