After this what next?

After this what next?

The 1,000 members of the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR)
yesterday reelected President Soeharto for a seventh consecutive
term. The appointment marks the culmination of an electoral
process which began last May and the pinnacle of the General
Session agenda. During the Session, the MPR has also accepted
Soeharto's statement of accountability, which outlined the
President's performance during his previous term in office, and
endorsed new State Policy Guidelines. With few words, the
honorable legislators have done their job according to plan.

Assembly members emerged daily from arduous meetings with a
cheerful countenance. All meetings ran smoothly. There were no
serious debates, far less any expression of dissent.

Although prior to the Assembly convening there had been a lot
of popular anger at rising prices, it was all quiet on the
Jakarta front during the General Session. The Session ran
successfully and smoothly -- a big plus for, after all, doesn't
democracy need harmony and serenity?

But what should define success in a democratic country? Two
theaters have staged political activity in Indonesia in recent
days. One is the Assembly, which has met daily since March 1. The
other is the university campuses which have been the scene of
student rallies demanding essential economic and political reform
to solve the crisis gripping the country.

Unlike the MPR Session, which involved only official
representatives, the student demonstrations sprouted from the
grassroots of society. Unlike the official representatives, the
young people involved do not feel obliged to agree with well-
prepared documents, but prefer to articulate more urgent popular
demands.

The MPR should have paid earnest attention to the student
demands. Regretfully, we have only seen a massive chasm between
the two political stages. The Assembly members were too busy to
pay attention. They failed to recognize that the student demands
are crucial to the future of this nation.

For the sake of the national interest, the authorities must
address the demands emanating from the nation's universities,
issued by students and lecturers alike. Their voice echoes the
thoughts and desires of the common citizens of Indonesia.
Ignoring the problems they raise, hoping instead that they will
vanish of their own accord, can only be to the detriment of the
whole nation.

Soeharto will shortly appoint his new cabinet. We must now
wait to see whether it proves capable of healing the nation's
wounds if ointments are applied only to the economic sector.

Some observers believe that the incoming administration should
be given six months to engineer a turn around in the economic
situation. This is a good idea, but how can it be enforced. The
MPR, the highest law making body in the country, has the
authority, but it is incapable of supervising the new
administration because it depends entirely on the government's
executive branch.

It is too early to believe that the conclusion of the MPR
five-yearly General Session will be the beginning of a solution
to the nation's difficulties. Outside the building, amid
worsening economic and social conditions, and crumbling respect
for the supremacy of law, the people will continue to press their
demands.