'All parties must stand equal chance'

'All parties must stand equal chance'

Kurniawan Hari, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

More politicians and observers have demanded that all political
parties, be they big or small, be afforded equal chances of
nominating their own presidential and vice presidential
candidates.

Therefore, the argue, the restrictions limiting the size of
the presidential election field must be dropped.

Article 5 (4) of the presidential elections bill allows only
political parties or coalitions that garnered 20 percent of the
seats in the House of Representatives (DPR) to nominate a
presidential candidate.

"The limitation will only facilitate the big parties in
maintaining their positions. There will be no new faces
contesting the presidential election," said Muslim cleric
Solahuddin Wahid of Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) at a discussion here on
Tuesday.

Indonesia is scheduled to hold its first ever direct
presidential election between June and August 2004.

In the last election in 1999, only the Indonesian Democratic
Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan) and Golkar won more than 20
percent of the vote.

Sulastomo, coordinator of the Straight Path Movement,
concurred with Solahuddin, saying that such a restriction would
prevent figures from new parties from contesting the election.

All factions in the House, except the PDI Perjuangan, Golkar,
and the military/police factions have rejected the restriction.
They constitute more than half of the votes in the House.

Minister of Home Affairs Hari Sabarno said earlier that the
limitation was designed to ensure that presidential candidates
were nominated by big parties with enough support as reflected by
the number of seats they held in the House.

According to Hari, this scheme would create an effective
government in which the president could count on significant
support from the House.

This explanation has been rejected by many politicians.

The chairpersons of three political parties, the New Indonesia
Alliance Party (PIB), the Banteng Kemerdekaan Nationalist Party
(PNBK), and the National Democratic Party (PDK), issued a joint
statement on Tuesday rejecting the limitation.

Sjahrir of the PIB, Eros Djarot of the PNBK, and Ryaas Rasyid
of the PDK said that the restriction was unconstitutional and was
not in line with the principles underlaying the presidential
system.

Article 6 A (2) of the Constitution states that presidential
and vice presidential candidates are nominated by political
parties or coalitions prior to the elections.

There is no stipulation that restricts smaller parties from
nominating presidential candidates.

They said the limitation was simply a ploy by the powerholders
to retain power. The 1945 Constitution does not make any
connection between presidential candidature and the number of
seats a political party gains in the general election.

Separately, Amien Rais, the chairman of the National Mandate
Party (PAN), the country's fifth largest party, said on Tuesday
that the presidential elections must not be linked to the
election of members of the legislature.

He said that if the a presidential candidature was based on
the number of seats in the legislature, then Indonesia would have
a parliamentary system.

He stressed that the country had adopted the presidential
system.

Amien, who is also the speaker of the People's Consultative
Assembly (MPR), said the freedom of the people to elect their
president would be restricted should the limitation be endorsed.

"Please give the people the freedom to elect the candidate of
their choice without restriction," Amien said.

Moreover, Amien suggested that the presidential and vice
presidential candidates nominated by political parties or
coalitions should be announced before the legislative elections.

Coalitions would simply be based on short-term interests
should the candidates be announced after the legislative
elections, he said.