Analysts call for direct election of regional leaders

Moch. N. Kurniawan, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Some political analysts and politicians are calling for the direct election of regents, mayors and governors, saying this would ensure the people get the leaders they want.

Fachri Ali, Abu Hartono of the Habibie Center and Andi Mattalata of the Golkar Party said on Wednesday "money politics" would continue to influence the election of regional leaders as long as these elections were entrusted to local legislatures.

"We should push for direct elections of governors, regents and mayors now that the country has agreed to hold a direct presidential election in 2004.

"Otherwise, members of local legislatures, who we all know are corrupt, will be happy to maintain their authority to elect governors, regents and mayors," Fachri said during a discussion organized by the Habibie Center on Wednesday.

The House of Representatives endorsed a bill on presidential elections on Monday, paving the way for the country to hold it first ever direct presidential election in 2004.

The National Elections Commission has scheduled the legislative elections for April 5, 2004, and the presidential election for sometime between June and August.

Fachri demanded that Article 18 (4) of the 1945 Constitution be reviewed to accommodate the need for direct elections for governors, mayors and regents.

"Under the article as it now stands, local legislators still have grounds to reject direct elections for regents, mayors and governors," Fachri said.

Article 18 (4) simply states that governors, regents and mayors be "democratically elected", without elaborating on what is meant by the phrase.

Fachri said there also should be a mechanism to control governors, regents and mayors elected directly by the people, so they could be recalled if their performance was not up to standard.

The election of some local officials across the country has been met with anger because of allegations of money politics.

The election of Sutiyoso and Danny Setiawan as governors of Jakarta and West Java, respectively, for example, were tarnished by allegations of bribery and corruption.

Andi said plans to hold direct elections for governors, regents and mayors should go forward, as legislators had wanted to do this since 2000, when the 1945 Constitution was being amended for the second time.

"But we could not create an article in 2000 that clearly stipulated the direct election of governors, regents and mayors, because that would have forced us to delay the direct presidential election," he said.

Therefore, as the next president will be elected directly by the people, the election of governors, regents and mayors should be conducted in similar manner, Andi said.

He also said Article 18 (4) of the Constitution already contained the spirit of direct elections for local officials, making it unnecessary to amend the Constitution.

"We could review the autonomy law to make it clearly stipulate direct elections of governors, regents and mayors," he said.

Abu said legislators should draft a new law to establish the legal basis for the direct election of local officials.

"I think a new law would be the easiest and fastest way to push for the direct election of governors, regents and mayors," he said.