Factions split over 4 million civil servants<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): Factions on the House of Representatives'
\nWorking Committee were divided into two camps over whether
\nIndonesia's 4 million civil servants should be allowed to be
\ninvolved in political parties.<\/p>\n
Danial Tandjung of the United Development Party (PPP) said the
\ncommittee's closed session on Friday ended in a deadlock. The
\nlegislators eventually agreed to seek a breakthrough by
\nconsulting their leaderships and lobbying among them.<\/p>\n
\"The working committee's session will resume on Monday and all
\nfactions are expected to have reached agreement on the crucial
\nissue by then,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Danial said that the PPP, the Indonesian Democratic Party
\n(PDI) and Armed Forces (ABRI) factions wanted the civil servants
\nto be neutral, while major faction Golkar wanted them to be
\nallowed membership of political parties.<\/p>\n
Djufrie Asmoredjo, chairman of the working committee
\ndeliberating the draft law on political parties, warned of
\n\"widely negative impacts\" arising from civil servants'
\nparticipation in political parties.<\/p>\n
For instance, they could discriminate against certain groups
\nneeding their services, Djufrie said.<\/p>\n
In addition, \"civil servants from non-ruling parties may face
\ndifficulties in developing their career and ABRI (Armed Forces),
\nwhich is of the same status as the civil servant corps, will also
\ndemand that they are allowed to be involved in political
\nparties,\" said Djufrie.<\/p>\n
Yahya Zaini of Golkar said civil servants are Indonesian
\ncitizens with political rights. \"Barring them from political
\nactivities is against human rights,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Yahya also dismissed the PPP faction's warning that the civil
\nservants corps should be separated from ABRI since the latter was
\nassigned to be in charge of defense and security.<\/p>\n
Besides, defining civil servants' neutrality as barring them
\nfrom politics did not guarantee a democratic government, he said.<\/p>\n
He cited how civil servants in Thailand can join political
\nparties and how its government was more democratic than
\nIndonesia's.<\/p>\n
Under former president Soeharto's New Order regime, civil
\nservants were forced to be loyal to and to vote only for Golkar.<\/p>\n
The government-sponsored bill seeks to bar civil servants and
\nservicemen from joining political parties, saying they have the
\nright to vote but not to be elected.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, in a concurrent session of the working committee in
\ncharge of deliberating the structure of legislative bodies,
\nlegislators again failed to break through a deadlock over the
\npresence of the military in the House of Representatives (DPR).<\/p>\n
Budi Harsono, chairman of the working committee, said all
\nfactions were expected to reconsider their stance on the matter
\nin order to enable the committee to reach a win-win solution.<\/p>\n
\"This is a very crucial issue and all factions have their own
\nstands which are difficult to bridge,\" he acknowledged.<\/p>\n
Harminto Agustono of PPP insisted his faction would fight so
\nABRI can have only two percent or ten House seats.<\/p>\n
\"We will defend the current size of the DPR and we will fight
\nfor a decrease of ABRI representatives in the House from the
\ncurrent 75 to only 10 in the 1999-2004 period,\" he said.<\/p>\n
If the factions failed to reach a common stance, the issue
\nshould just be settled through a vote, he said.<\/p>\n
Golkar has proposed five to 10 percent of 500 seats at the
\nHouse for appointed ABRI representatives while PDI is still
\nundecided over the issue.<\/p>\n
ABRI supported the draft law which proposed 10 percent of the
\nproposed 550 seats in the House to allow it to play a role again
\nin the coming period. (rms)<\/p>",
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