Indonesian democratization progress seen in MPR session<\/p>\n
The first annual session ever held by the People's Consultative
\nAssembly (MPR) ended last week. State administration expert Moh.
\nMahfud M.D. of the Yogyakarta-based Indonesian Islamic University
\nshared his evaluations.<\/p>\n
Question: What are your evaluations of the Annual Session?<\/p>\n
Mahfud: I think I saw some progress there and it was good for
\nthe democratization process. A democratic climate, too, emerged
\nduring the session. Everybody was free to speak out and have open
\ndiscussions. Nothing is considered taboo now.<\/p>\n
Yet, based on what resulted, the Assembly has not only made
\nsome progress but has caused some setbacks as well.<\/p>\n
Can you give some examples?<\/p>\n
Among the progress were the MPR's decisions on the source of
\nlaw and order and on the amendments to the Constitution.<\/p>\n
Marking the setback was the fact that most of the MPR members
\nput their own personal and group interests above the interests of
\nthe people. Deliberations on some good issues on constitutional
\namendments, therefore, had to be delayed because they did not
\nagree on the alternatives that had been prepared by a
\nsubcommittee. They failed to make decisions on procedures for the
\nelection of a president, and on the authority of the minister of
\njustice, the MPR and regional legislatures.<\/p>\n
I see that the MPR's decision to allow the political
\nparticipation of the Indonesian Military (TNI) and the National
\nPolice as a setback because it was contradictory to the reform
\nidea. That means that a conservative or new status quo group has
\nemerged in the Assembly and proreform groups have lost.<\/p>\n
I, therefore, suggest that there should be no compromise in
\nthe future. If people do not want TNI and the police to interfere
\nin politics, MPR members should make decisions on the matter
\nthrough voting.<\/p>\n
How could they fail to make those decisions?<\/p>\n
It seems to me that there was some intention of doing that. I
\ncan say so because I was a member of the expert team for the
\nsessions of Commission A of the Assembly.<\/p>\n
When they discussed particular issues, for example, they spent
\nhours just talking about technical matters. Therefore, when the
\ntime came to discuss the real substance, they ran out of time. As
\na result, they could only reach agreements on light things such
\nas citizenship and the national flag.<\/p>\n
What about the legislators, did you see some progress in them
\nalso?<\/p>\n
No, I did not. The progress I saw was only on the emergence of
\na democratic climate. The legislators are still power-oriented.
\nThe most important thing that the nation needs presently is an
\nimprovement in state administration through the amendment of the
\nConstitution. Yet, for days they only talked about how to topple
\nPresident Abdurrahman \"Gus Dur\" Wahid.<\/p>\n
And when Gus Dur came up with an alternative (sharing
\ngovernmental tasks with Vice President Megawati Soekarnoputri),
\nthe next struggle was focused on how to form the Cabinet. That's
\nall.<\/p>\n
What should we do to produce statesmen than just power-
\noriented politicians in the future?<\/p>\n
First of all, we need representatives with a strong commitment
\nto the development of the nation. A district-based general
\nelection can help produce such representatives because it will
\nallow people to directly elect their own representatives. Under
\nthe proportional system implemented in the past, the election of
\nrepresentatives was determined by the nomination of political
\nparty leaders and their participation in the financing of
\ncampaign activities.<\/p>\n
Do you think the MPR really needs to hold annual sessions in
\nthe coming years?<\/p>\n
I think it has to hold annual sessions. Only they don't have
\nto be so long (The recent annual session lasted from Aug. 7
\nthrough Aug. 18). The last session, where the MPR listened to the
\ngovernment's progress report, taught us that the President could
\nnot play around with the way he managed the country. From the
\nprogress report, too, we found out that although there is not yet
\na legal base on which to sanction a president, the MPR could
\nevaluate the progress report and give directions or make
\ncorrective suggestions to the president. That would lead him to
\nbe careful as the session would be held annually.<\/p>\n
Do you think the MPR's task of supervising the government
\ncould be replaced by the House of Representatives (DPR)?<\/p>\n
Yes. But we want to empower the MPR. As the highest power
\nholder in the country, the MPR could issue decisions that could
\nnot be made by the House. That's the basic idea because during
\nthe New Order era, the MPR only held a five-yearly general
\nsession. Now the MPR has proven that it can hold a session
\nannually. Although some may say it's uneconomical, I'd rather say
\nit's progress for our state administration. If it's the funding
\nwe're concerned about, we could rearrange it.<\/p>\n
How would you describe the amendments the MPR has made?<\/p>\n
Discussions in the past annual session were very open and
\ndemocratic. Yet, it seems that certain groups were trying to slow
\ndown discussions, so that the Assembly could not finish
\ndeliberations on particular issues or decisions, including the
\nelection of a president.<\/p>\n
Who do you think tried to slow down the discussions?<\/p>\n
They were groups that were afraid of losing particular things
\nif decisions were reached. They should not have acted that way.
\nThey should have fought much harder and should not have given up
\njust for the reason of avoiding voting. Voting is an important
\npart of democracy and avoiding it only left the work unfinished.
\nUnfortunately, there was a big group that did not want the voting
\nto be held.<\/p>\n
What should the Assembly do to make its annual sessions more
\neffective in the coming years?<\/p>\n
It should be more economical in the future and discussions
\nshould be made more productive. The Assembly, therefore, should
\nnot bring in issues that will end up being dropped or the
\ndeliberations on which will not reach a decision. (Sri Wahyuni)<\/p>",
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