Political bills come under fire again<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): Two new political parties fiercely criticized on
\nTuesday the government-sponsored political bills for seeking to
\nfurnish the Armed Forces (ABRI) with too much power.<\/p>\n
In a public hearing with the dominant Golkar House faction,
\nrepresentatives of the National Mandate Party (PAN) and the
\nPeople's Sovereignty Party (Pilar) called on the legislative body
\nto drop the bills and draft new ones.<\/p>\n
But the faction's political commission chairman, Abu Hasan
\nSadzili, said it was unlikely the House could use its right to
\ninitiate bills at this time.<\/p>\n
However, it would still be very possible for the House to
\n\"introduce up to 70 percent changes\" he said.<\/p>\n
The hearing -- initiated by the faction to garner public input
\nbefore the deliberation of the bills starts next week -- was also
\nattended by representatives from the Indonesian Workers Party
\n(PPI) and the Indonesian Farmers Party (TANI).<\/p>\n
The three bills are on political parties; general elections;
\nand the structure and function of the House of Representatives
\n(DPR), the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) and the
\nprovincial legislatures.<\/p>\n
Earlier, Pilar chairman R.O. Tambunan and PAN secretary-
\ngeneral Faisal Basri highlighted various points which they
\nbelieved were the reasons why the bills should be dropped.<\/p>\n
Faisal, for instance, said PAN believed that the Armed Forces
\n(ABRI) representatives in the People's Consultative Assembly
\ncould be retained, but not their counterparts in the House.<\/p>\n
Tambunan argued the Armed Forces should be removed from both
\nthe Assembly and the House.<\/p>\n
Faisal said: \"There should not be any compromise, but of
\ncourse we'll think about what compensation could be given to
\nABRI.<\/p>\n
\"It'd be understandable how ABRI (members) would feel if they
\nhad to witness civilians 'enjoying so much corruption' while they
\nhad to stay in the barracks.\"<\/p>\n
He said ABRI personnel should be allowed to vote and be
\nelected, but before they could exercise their political rights
\nthey would first have to leave the military.<\/p>\n
\"Just like civil servants, they must be free to exercise their
\nright to vote, but in order to be elected (to legislative seats)
\nthey must first resign their status,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Tambunan argued ABRI should not even be allocated seats in the
\nMPR.<\/p>\n
Political parties will need to win 600,000 votes for every
\nseat in the House.<\/p>\n
In the present bill, the 500,000-strong Armed Forces would be
\ngiven 55 House seats, down from the 75 seats in the current
\nHouse.<\/p>\n
\"For the sake of equality before the law, ABRI must not be
\ntreated any differently from the rest of the country. So why the
\nprivilege?\" he said.<\/p>\n
Tambunan said his party did not agree with the appointment of
\nABRI members to the Assembly because they would only serve to
\npreserve the status quo.<\/p>\n
Both Tambunan and Faisal warned the House against allowing
\neven \"small mistakes\" in their deliberations of the bills, given
\nthe nation's effort to establish a \"true reform order\" was at
\nstake.<\/p>\n
The Armed Forces has often argued that its presence in
\npolitics is needed as both a \"political stabilizer\" and \"security
\nwatcher\". Experts have said that the civilian forces'
\ninexperience in politics had justified the military's
\nintervention in politics.<\/p>\n
The politicians also criticized the part of the bill on
\npolitical parties that covered funding.<\/p>\n
Faisal -- supported by Tambunan and the representatives of the
\nother political parties present -- said limiting personal
\ndonations to Rp 10 million (US$1,100) and organizational
\ncontribution to Rp 50 million would only benefit Golkar, which he
\nsaid \"was already rich\".<\/p>\n
\"Rather than limiting the size of donations, it would be
\nbetter to impose a ceiling for campaign funds, so electioneering
\ncould be conducted without money politics playing too dominant a
\nrole,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Faisal said his party called for the elections to be organized
\nby an independent electoral committee, not the government. The
\nelectoral committee should be headed by an individual known to
\nhave integrity, such as former Jakarta governor Lt. Gen. (ret)
\nAli Sadikin.<\/p>\n
\"The committee should not be responsible to the president, but
\nto the House,\" added Faisal's colleague Santosa.<\/p>\n
Tambunan suggested that the bill on political parties should
\nno longer prevent political parties from establishing branches in
\nvillages, a policy known as the floating mass policy of the New
\nOrder regime of Soeharto, that he said was still retained in the
\ncurrent bill.<\/p>\n
\"Scrap the policy altogether,\" he said. (aan)<\/p>", "url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/political-bills-come-under-fire-again-1447893297", "image": "" }, "sponsor": "Okusi Associates", "sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com" }