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.