House fails to finish electoral bill on schedule<\/p>\n
Kurniawan Hari, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
Disagreement over the electoral system and threshold have stalled
\nthe deliberation of the election bill, raising the specter of
\nfailing to meet the Jan. 30 deadline.<\/p>\n
Most political parties have agreed to introduce a
\nproportional, open-listed system, which allows people to vote for
\nindividuals, while the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle
\n(PDI Perjuangan) is insisting on the proportional system, where
\nvoters can only choose political parties.<\/p>\n
PDI Perjuangan, chaired by President Megawati Soekarnoputri,
\nis the biggest faction in the House.<\/p>\n
Small political parties in the House are also insisting that
\nthe implementation of the 2 percent electoral threshold be
\ndelayed until the 2009 general election so that they too can
\nstill contest the 2004 election.<\/p>\n
Legislators deliberating the bill said on Friday that they
\nwould not finish deliberating the bill on time.<\/p>\n
The chairman of the House of Representatives (DPR) Special
\nCommittee for the election bill deliberation, Agustin Teras
\nNarang, said the bill's endorsement had been rescheduled to Feb.
\n11.<\/p>\n
\"We've agreed to finish the bill in February, possibly on Feb.
\n11,\" said Teras from PDI Perjuangan.<\/p>\n
Deputy chairman Chozin Chumaidy of the United Development
\nParty (PPP) said the committee would report the delay to the
\nHouse's Steering Committee (Bamus) next Thursday.<\/p>\n
The delay will be the second after legislators also failed in
\nNovember to beat the deadline, which they themselves set.<\/p>\n
Other issues of contention that have slowed down deliberation
\ninclude electoral jurisdiction, the status of civil servants who
\nbecome legislators, defendants who want to nominate themselves as
\nlegislators and the number of Regional Representatives Council
\n(DPD) members.<\/p>\n
Of more than 900 items, he added, there were 101 unsolved
\nitems.<\/p>\n
Had the issues on the electoral system and electoral
\njurisdiction been finished, Teras said, it would be easier for
\nlegislators to finish with other issues.<\/p>\n
\"Because those issues relate to the electoral system,\" Teras
\nadded.<\/p>\n
Regarding the debate on the electoral system, Chozin disclosed
\nthat most factions had agreed to adopt a proportional system with
\nan open list of candidates.<\/p>\n
He said that only the PDI Perjuangan faction was insisting on
\nmaintaining the current proportional system.<\/p>\n
Under a proportional electoral system, the people vote for
\npolitical parties, not individual representatives.<\/p>\n
Commenting on the delay, a member of the General Elections
\nCommission (KPU), Hamid Awaluddin, said the delay was tolerable.<\/p>\n
\"The sooner the legislators finish the deliberation, the
\nbetter. A one or two-week delay is acceptable,\" Hamid told The
\nJakarta Post on Friday night.<\/p>\n
Hamid added that he could understand the difficult task the
\nlegislators had in deliberating the election bill. There are at
\nleast 900 items in the bill that must be discussed.<\/p>\n
He, however, expected that legislators would quickly finish
\ndebating the bill because a quick deliberation would benefit
\npolitical parties and the nation as a whole.<\/p>\n
Quicker deliberation would give more time for the KPU to
\norganize registration as well as clarify political parties.<\/p>",
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