Army takes lion's share of House seats

JAKARTA (JP): From 38 unelected seats to which legislators from the Indonesian Military (TNI) will be appointed, the Army will get 17, the Navy and Air Force will each get eight and the Police will get five seats.

TNI spokesman Maj. Gen. Syamsul Ma'arif made the announcement after a meeting on Tuesday between political party leaders and officials at the office of the General Elections Commission.

Despite formal separation of the police from the armed forces on April 1, the National Police are still represented in the House of Representatives (DPR), the highest law making body, because their political rights were not made clear.

The House has 462 seats. Members also become part of the 700- seat People's Consultative Assembly, the highest body which the president answers to according to the Constitution.

Assistant to the Armed Forces Territorial Affairs Chief Maj. Gen. Sudi Silalahi explained that the 1997 Law on National Police was not revoked. The law mentions that the police is part of the Armed Forces.

Since the separation, the military has reintroduced the original term of the Armed Forces, the TNI. But the officers said the military's faction in the House and Assembly would still retain the name ABRI (Armed Forces) faction.

Commission chairman Rudini suggested Monday that the names of TNI nominees should be announced although they were not elected, to enable people to pass judgment on them and raise complaints if necessary.

However although Minister of Defense and Security/TNI Commander Gen. Wiranto raised no objections of announcing the nominees, he said on Tuesday that raising complaints against them would not be possible as the legislators were appointed and selected by an "internal mechanism" within the military.

The subject of unelected legislators from the military has been controversial since deliberations of new political laws last year. Many have said the military should no longer play a political role through its seats in the legislature.

The compromise finally reached was to have 38 seats for the military instead of the former 75 at the House of Representatives.

Each elected seat at the House of Representatives represents 450,000 votes.

Wiranto said on Tuesday that the list of nominees had been presented to the Commission but later in the day a Commission official said Wiranto had "forgot" to sign it.

Sudi Silalahi said current deputy House Speaker of the ABRI faction, Hari Sabarno, and faction chairman Achmad Roestandi were included in the list of future legislators.

"The future legislators have been carefully selected by the military academies and National Police," he said.

Separately a group called the Indonesian Family for Peaceful Elections led by political observer Eep Saefulloh Fatah will run an anti-violence campaign on Sunday at the Senayan Sports Hall in Central Jakarta.

"We will gather one million signatures from all families across the country by Friday. Many people are worried about the June 7 poll and the probability of outbreaks of violence.

"Together we can avoid falling as victims to violence in the campaigning period. All party leaders are welcome to join the event."

Also in the campaign for peace were noted Muslim scholar Nurcholish Madjid, Karlina Leksono, Munir, Adnan Buyung Nasution, Adi Andojo, Goenawan Mohammad and Erna Witoelar. (edt)