What's wrong with the reform process?<\/p>\n
What should we expect from the Annual Session of the People's
\nConsultative Assembly (MPR)? Political analyst J. Soedjati
\nDjiwandono shares his views.<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): At the end of the Yogyakarta meeting on Aug. 1,
\nthe President stated that he and the other national leaders at
\nthe gathering had agreed that the August meeting would just be an
\nAnnual Session of the MPR, without attempts to unseat him.<\/p>\n
Yet, many politicians seem to continue their ambivalence on
\nthe question. While conceding the nature and primary function of
\nthe MPR Annual Session, they have continued to keep the option
\nopen by adding, \"if ... etc.\" to their statements.<\/p>\n
Constitutionally, being the supreme governing body of the
\nIndonesian political system, fully exercising the sovereignty of
\nthe people, if the MPR should not be happy with the President's
\n\"progress report\" at the August meeting, the House of
\nRepresentatives (DPR) could agree on a memorandum requesting the
\nMPR to convene a special session, in which the President may be
\nforced out of office.<\/p>\n
Indeed, the nation is paying the price for a lack of direction
\nin the current process of reform. The politicians continue to
\ntalk glibly about reform seemingly without a clear idea of what
\nreform really means, why we need reform, and what to do about it.<\/p>\n
Blaming Soeharto for everything that has gone wrong, MPR
\nmembers seem obsessed with weakening the presidency and at the
\nsame time empowering the legislative bodies, i.e. their own
\npositions, as the top priority of reform. They fail to understand
\nthat the 1945 Constitution provides for the very system that has
\ncreated the likes of Soeharto, Dr. Jekyll-turned-Mr. Hyde, the
\nmain root of the nation's current crisis.<\/p>\n
Thus many politicians now appear intent on pushing the
\nPresident into a corner, really after him for the kill, as it
\nwere. It is unfair, however, to put all the blame on the
\nPresident for a lack of success in dealing with all the urgent
\nproblems faced by the nation within less than a year.<\/p>\n
Karl Marx thought that socialism or \"the classless society\"
\nthat he dreamed of would be built upon the ruins of capitalism.
\nBut President Abdurrahman Wahid has to build a new Indonesia not
\nupon, but through the use of much of the debris of Soeharto's New
\nOrder. These are intellectual and political midgets of his
\ncreation through indoctrination, manipulation, intimidation,
\nterror, by stick and carrot and by Pavlovian conditioning, who
\ncontinue to speak his language and double-talk and follow his way
\nof thinking.<\/p>\n
Given the limited success in weakening the presidency and in
\nempowering themselves in the legislative bodies, what is there in
\nthe political system to control them? At present the politicians
\nseem absolutely free to say or do anything and get away with it.<\/p>\n
It is nonsense to call this kind of relationship between the
\nPresident and the DPR or MPR one of checks and balances.<\/p>\n
In a parliamentary system, the parliament is able to topple
\nthe prime minister by a vote of no confidence. But the prime
\nminister may challenge the parliament by dissolving it and
\ncalling for a fresh election to test the confidence of the
\npeople.<\/p>\n
That does not apply to the presidential system in Indonesia,
\nespecially in the absence of a mechanism for judicial review in
\nthe event of legal or constitutional debate between the executive
\nand the legislative branches of government.<\/p>\n
At best the result would be a deadlock, with the President
\ngetting the upper hand in the face of the DPR. That is what
\nhappened on July 20 last, when he confronted the DPR on the right
\nof interpellation. In the face of the MPR, however, particularly
\ngiven the possible attempts at impeachment following its current
\nAnnual Session, the position would be the opposite.<\/p>\n
Indeed, President Sukarno was impeached successfully by the
\nprovisional MPR at the request of the equally provisional and
\nequally unelected DPR, which from the onset of the New Order had
\nboth been manipulated through the revamping of their membership
\nat Soeharto's will. By contrast, now MPR consists mostly of
\ndemocratically elected party members, among which supporters of
\nAbdurrahman command a large majority.<\/p>\n
Still, the situation will not be that simple this time around.
\nFor one thing, the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle and
\nGolkar, like the previous case of the United Development Party,
\nare dissatisfied with the dismissal of their members from the
\nCabinet for reasons the party could not accept.<\/p>\n
This prompted the recent interpellation by the House -- an
\nindication that many politicians are more concerned with their
\nown personal and sectarian interests than the interests of the
\nnation. The question of their own survival seems paramount.<\/p>\n
Thus, for another, the possibility of money politics playing a
\nrole remains real. They probably could not care less if a change
\nof government at this stage would be too costly for the nation,
\nand that impeachment of the President is likely to trigger a
\nserious social conflict, if not a civil war.<\/p>\n
It seems unlikely, therefore, that the President would
\nconfront an MPR special session by resorting again to virtual
\npettifoggery by questioning the constitutionality of attempts at
\nimpeachment, arguing that the current Annual Session is not one
\nin which he is to give his accountability report. He is to do
\nthat at the end of his term. He may well use that argument, but
\nbefore rather during the session, which I doubt, on the basis of
\nthat very argument, whether he would feel bound to attend at all.<\/p>\n
The nation is also paying the price for upholding the 1945
\nConstitution. Members of the MPR have appeared to make serious
\nefforts at amending, but not changing, the Constitution. Even
\nthat is limited to certain, not necessarily the right, clauses.
\nBut not the preamble! That would be a cardinal sin! And not the
\nunitary republic. That would be unforgivable!<\/p>\n
The 1945 Constitution is one of ambivalence and ambiguity,
\nsubject to conflicting interpretations, right from the preamble.
\nThis has resulted in contradictory laws or laws contrary to the
\nConstitution. At the very least, it may result in endless legal
\nand constitutional wrangling with no institution vested with the
\npower for judicial review, not even the Supreme Court.<\/p>\n
Without a complete change of the Constitution, on the pretext
\nthat \"the people are not ready\", that they do not want to \"betray
\nour founding fathers\", or some other senseless argument, we are
\nlikely to get another form of dictatorship -- whoever may happen
\nto be president.<\/p>",
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