Network asks govt to pursue reforms<\/p>\n
Moch. N. Kurniawan, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
A national network of some 40 non-governmental organizations,
\nmass media, government institutions and political parties called
\non the government on Wednesday to pursue badly needed reforms to
\ndig the country out of the current multidimensional crises.<\/p>\n
They also expressed a commitment to assisting public policy
\nmakers in policy reform after next year's elections.<\/p>\n
State-owned Gadjah Mada University rector Sofian Effendi told
\na press conference here on Wednesday that the government should
\ncut its role in controlling the people in order to strengthen
\ndemocracy.<\/p>\n
\"Civil supremacy must also be upheld and the military must not
\nreturn to rule the country even if it has strong discipline and
\nleadership to manage the country.\"<\/p>\n
Sofian was asked to address the press after Jajaki's two-day
\nmeeting that ended on Wednesday.<\/p>\n
Fears of the military returning to the political stage have
\nresurfaced after polling carried out by a number of research
\nagencies showed that some former military generals had gained
\nstrong support from the grassroots for the presidential post.<\/p>\n
Coordinating Minister for Political and Security Affairs Gen.
\n(ret.) Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has topped several presidential
\ncandidate surveys, while former Indonesian Military (TNI) chief
\nGen. (ret.) Wiranto, and former commander of the Army's Strategic
\nReserve Command (Kostrad) Lt. Gen. Prabowo Subianto are joining
\nGolkar's convention to choose the party's presidential candidate.<\/p>\n
Sofian also said that civil service reform must also proceed
\nand regional autonomy should be based on economy and social
\njustice rather than political consideration to distribute power.<\/p>\n
\"Those are priorities in political reforms that we would like
\nto deeply analyze in the upcoming years. We will come up with
\npolicy recommendations to be handed to the government,\" he said.<\/p>\n
The head of the United Nations Support Facilities for
\nIndonesian Recovery (UNSFIR) Satish C. Mishra attended the press
\nconference.<\/p>\n
UNSFIR facilitates the network that aims to provide an
\ninformal but organized channel of government and non-government
\ninstitutional consultation on priority policy issues.<\/p>\n
Among the Jajaki network members are state-owned University of
\nIndonesia, Gadjah Mada University from Yogyakarta, the West
\nSumatra administration, the Indonesian Institute of Sciences
\n(LIPI), Muslim organizations Nadhlatul Ulama and Muhammadiyah,
\nGolkar and The Jakarta Post.<\/p>\n
The Office of Coordinating Ministry for Political and Security
\nAffairs and other ministries are expected to join the network.<\/p>\n
Sofian said the Jajaki network also wanted economic reform to
\nfocus on reviving the real sector.<\/p>\n
The present government has so far still focused on assisting
\nthe ailing banking sectors instead of real sector.<\/p>\n
On social reform, civil society groups must be continuously
\nempowered to help meet the people's aspirations on good public
\npolicy.<\/p>\n
More and more people should also be educated to better
\nunderstand their rights as citizen, while poverty must be
\neradicated, he said.<\/p>\n
On legal reform, the network called for concerted efforts at
\nthe national level to fight corruption.<\/p>\n
\"Otherwise, our corruption problem will never end,\" he said.<\/p>\n
The Berlin-based Transparency International (TI) ranks
\nIndonesia as the second most corrupt country among members of the
\nAssociation of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and the sixth
\nworst of the 132 countries surveyed worldwide from July 2002
\nthrough June 2003.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Satish emphasized that Indonesian people should
\npush for a broadened public participation in determining public
\npolicy.<\/p>\n
The government has always made important decisions regarding
\npublic interests based on lobbies among political elites or
\nforeign pressure without the involvement of the people and
\nexplanations to them, he said.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/network-asks-govt-to-pursue-reforms-1447893297",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
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