1998 paves the way toward a legal, legitimate democracy

By Ridwan Max Sijabat

JAKARTA (JP): Political scientist Deliar Noer insisted recently that all pro-reform elements ensure that the general election take place next year, "no matter what". If the elections are foiled, "the status quo forces would be stronger," he said.

Many share the opinion of Deliar, who is also chairman of the Muslim Ummat Party, out of a realization that the reform movement which forced Soeharto to step aside must be cemented legally. This cement is, among other things, a democratic, fair and honest general election.

A new set of political laws are therefore needed to make sure such a general election occurs.

Once new laws are enacted, "President B.J. Habibie can call for the elections within one week," Minister/State Secretary Akbar Tandjung once said.

These days, the House of Representatives is deliberating government-sponsored draft laws on the general election, political parties and the structure and function of the House of Representatives (DPR), the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) and provincial and regional legislatures.

Both Habibie's transitional administration and the Assembly have recently agreed to hold a fair and democratic, multiparty general election on June 7, 1999. That day will be declared a national holiday.

The four House factions have rejected the district electoral system proposed by the government, believing that the nation did not have enough time to adopt a new system. They instead opted to maintain the proportional representation system, albeit with some adjustments.

In the "open party list system" being adopted, people will vote for parties as well as lists of the parties' legislature candidates.

Now, Golkar wants the system to be implemented down to regencies and mayoralties, while the United Development Party (PPP) and the Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI) want to limit the system to the provincial level so that any excess votes can be collected and exchanged for more seats in the House of Representatives.

The House as a whole, however, agreed to insert in the draft law a stipulation that the district system would be implemented in post-1999 elections.

What else has the House agreed upon in its deliberations on the three political bills?

* The general election would be run by a national election committee comprised of representatives from political parties and the government.

* The head of state would be responsible for holding the general election, but he/she may not intervene in any of the decisions made by the committee.

* The committee would elect its own chairperson. In the past, election committees were chaired by the minister of home affairs.

Many have criticized, however, the exclusion of societal groups from the committee.

The House answered these criticisms by saying that these groups could monitor the elections along with local independent monitoring institutions and foreign observers. All of these groups would be allowed to report any irregularities detected in the elections.

* An official monitoring committee would be established to handle reported fraud and conflicts. The central monitoring body will be chaired by the chief justice, the provincial monitoring committees will be chaired by provincial court chiefs, while the regency monitoring committees will be chaired by district court chiefs.

Political parties

Only weeks after Soeharto's resignation in May, Indonesia saw such a proliferation of political parties that it was nearly impossible to keep count. According to some people, there are now 107 political parties, while others claim there are 112 parties.

However, which parties will be eligible to contest the elections?

The draft law proposes that to be eligible to participate in the elections, a party must having chapters in at least half of Indonesia's 27 provinces and branches in 50 percent of the regencies, or they must collect one million signatures from party members and supporters.

The requirement for one million signatures has since been dropped by the House following criticism from new political parties that the requirement was too stringent.

Following intense debates, the House agreed that in order to be eligible to contest the poll, parties only need chapters in nine provinces and branches in half of all regencies.

Through deliberations, the House agreed to drop the stipulation that all political parties pledge their adherence to the state ideology Pancasila. Now, political parties only have to accept and mention Pancasila in their statutes as the "state basis", but are free to name the ideology of their parties, so, for example, a political party may be based on religion.

At least nine new parties have been founded on Islam. PPP took advantage of the political opening and declared that it was returning to its original identity as an Islamic party, and planned to drop the star and again use the Kaaba as its symbol.

What about financial independence?

* Political parties are barred from doing business or taking financial aid from foreign companies and countries. Their financial sources come from members' dues, funds from the annual state budget and donations from individuals and local businesses.

* Political parties are obliged to give annual financial reports. They must also give financial reports to the election committee 30 days before the general election.

* Neither the government nor the Supreme Court has the authority to disband political parties, except in criminal or "ideological" cases.

* The court can disband political parties that have been proven guilty of violating the Constitution or the law, or have been proven guilty of involvement in crimes or subversion.

* Political parties, especially ones which are unable to meet the legal requirements to contest the general election, can be dissolved by their own congress.

Legislative bodies

To ensure the legislative bodies' credibility, the draft law stipulates that the majority of their members would be elected in the general election. Only a small number of the members would be appointed.

But, how many is "small"? And, for that matter, what is the ideal size of the House of Representatives and the People's Consultative Assembly?

Golkar proposed to reduce the current 1,000-seat Assembly to 700. PPP proposed 650 seats, while PDI suggested 750 seats.

According to the Constitution, the Assembly consists of House legislators who are elected through the general election, regional representatives and representatives of societal groups.

The current Assembly, which has admitted that it is only a transitional body, has agreed to separate its leadership from that of the House.

It also agreed in November that the next Assembly should convene every year rather than once every five years as it did under Soeharto's New Order regime.

The Assembly also agreed that the body now has the authority to summon for hearings not only members of the executive branch, but also members from the Supreme Audit Agency and the Supreme Court.

Now, what about the size of the House?

The government, and the Golkar and ABRI factions proposed 550 seats for the next House, while the PPP and PDI factions want to maintain the current number of 500 seats.

The government and the ABRI faction want 55 seats to be reserved for appointed Armed Forces representatives, while the Golkar faction proposed 25 seats and PPP proposed ten seats. The PDI faction has yet to present its stance on the issue.

The Assembly in November agreed that the military presence in the House would be reduced gradually. The House will decide on the matter in January.