Presidential elections bill may produce poor candidates, experts say<\/p>\n
Berni K. Moestafa, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
As lawmakers prepare to deliberate the bill providing for the
\ncountry's first direct presidential election, analysts on Monday
\npointed to flaws they said would limit voters' options and result
\nin candidates not been filtered based on their leadership
\nqualities.<\/p>\n
The observers urged lawmakers not to approve the bill just yet
\nas it contained a number of controversial articles, including one
\nthat confined the race for the presidency to the candidates of
\nparties with at least 20 percent of the seats in the House of
\nRepresentatives.<\/p>\n
\"I see no reason why only parties with 20 percent of
\nlegislative seats are allowed to nominate presidential
\ncandidates,\" said Indria Samego of the Indonesian Institute of
\nSciences (LIPI).<\/p>\n
Submitted to the House of Representatives last month, the bill
\noffers two options for electing the president and vice president.<\/p>\n
The first requires the presidential election be held after the
\ngeneral election, which will determine the political composition
\nof the House. The second one calls for simultaneous elections.<\/p>\n
Indria raised concerns over the first option. Once the victors
\nin the general election had been announced, only the top five
\npolitical parties could nominate presidential candidates.<\/p>\n
This would limit the voter's choice to five candidates.<\/p>\n
\"This (direct presidential) election will be our first, so we
\nshould give the widest possible chance for everyone to
\nparticipate,\" said Indria.<\/p>\n
But backers of the first option warned that randomly elected
\npresidents might lack the political support of the House as
\nhappened following the 1999 general election.<\/p>\n
Although the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI
\nPerjuangan) won the 1999 election, its chairwoman Megawati
\nSoekarnoputri lost the presidency to Abdurrahman Wahid, who
\nfounder of the National Awakening Party (PKB).<\/p>\n
As the PKB had just a few seats, Indonesia saw constant
\nhaggling between the House and the president until Abdurrahman
\nwas dismissed after 22 months. Policy-making was difficult and
\nlawmakers are still faced with a backlog of dozens of laws.<\/p>\n
But the need to offer the widest possible list of qualified
\ncandidates could outweigh such concerns, said the Center for
\nElectoral Reform (CETRO)'s deputy executive director Hadar N.
\nGumay.<\/p>\n
\"In fact, if the president has House's majority support, this
\nwould lead to more collusion rather than checks and balances,\"
\nHadar said.<\/p>\n
He added that instead of imposing conditions reflecting the
\ncandidates' political clout, the bill should impose tighter
\ncriteria for their personnel capabilities.<\/p>\n
\"Otherwise, while we may call it a direct presidential
\nelection, it will be no different from buying a cat in a sack,\"
\nhe said.<\/p>\n
So far, the proposed criteria were too lenient as well as
\noutdated, said University of Indonesia political analyst Arbi
\nSanit.<\/p>\n
A presidential candidate must, among others things, be loyal
\nto the state ideology Pancasila, the 1945 Constitution, and must
\nnot be a former member of the banned Communist party.<\/p>\n
\"It says nothing about leadership qualities,\" Arbi said.<\/p>\n
Legislator Zain Bajeber, who heads the House's legislation
\ncommittee, which arranges the debates on bills, said that the
\ndebate over the presidential elections bill could start late this
\nmonth at the earliest, or during the recess starting on March 7.<\/p>\n
\"Once the special committee has finished the general elections
\nbill, the same committee could start working on the presidential
\nelections bill,\" he said.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/presidential-elections-bill-may-produce-poor-candidates-experts-say-1447893297",
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