Assembly reluctant to make changes

By Dwi Atmanta

JAKARTA (JP): Two months of deliberation in the People's Consultative Assembly concluded last week with an inevitable resolution that silenced calls for a political overhaul.

Debates did mark the Assembly sessions all the way along, but it was an obvious, one-sided tug-of-war pitting two minority factions -- the United Development Party (PPP) and the Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI) -- against the dominant Golkar and its traditional allies -- the powerful Armed Forces and regional representatives factions.

Now that the Assembly has unanimously voted in favor of Golkar's draft 1998/2003 State Policy Guidelines, although with some revision, and against minority parties-sponsored motions for separate decrees in support of major political changes, the next general session of the Assembly in March looks set to serve as a rubber stamp.

The 1,000-member Assembly will also elect a president and vice president in March.

PPP and PDI factions brought a total of eight motions on Assembly internal rule changes, Pancasila democracy, economic democracy, clean government, judicial review, human rights protection, election regulation changes and revocation of the controversial floating mass policy. All of them were ruled out.

Some persistence was demonstrated by Moslem-based PPP in its bid for election rule changes and revocation of the floating mass policy, but it was worn down and buckled just a few hours before the first stage of the Assembly's general session concluded last Thursday.

PPP also forced the Golkar-led coalition to stretch muscles and accept the inclusion of nondenominational faiths in the religious affairs section of the policy guidelines, rather than in the cultural affairs section like in the previous guidelines.

This issue had been a thorn in the Moslem community's side, and the resolution was welcomed by many Moslem leaders.

In contrast, Golkar sponsored just one proposal which gives the next president extra power. As widely expected, the motion received unanimous approval from the other four factions in the Assembly.

However, PPP legislator Muhammad Buang hailed the manner with which the deliberation had proceeded, saying that on paper mighty Golkar would not have broken into a sweat if it was forced to the vote on every decision.

"How can the minority factions make a real difference? But the uniqueness of our democracy is that a minority is equal with the majority," he said.

A dejected PDI representative, Ismunandar, criticized the Assembly's refusal to accommodate demands for changes to the country's political format.

"There is little hope of change as long as a certain political organization insists on winning a majority of votes in the general election."

He was referring to Golkar, which won 74.5 percent of the votes in last year's polls. The victory earned it 325 seats in the House of Representatives and an additional 263 seats in the Assembly.

Each of the House's 500 members holds a seat in the Assembly.

Political analyst Bachtiar Aly responded coolly to the outcome of the Assembly's general session, saying that it in fact represented the present government's will rather than that of the people.

"Many public aspirations have been raised in support of change, but the Assembly is under the control of the executives so it fails to heed the demands," Bachtiar, a member of Golkar faction's team of assistants, said.

He blamed the Assembly's failure to inspire political change on the recruitment of the members of the highest law-making body.

"Closeness to certain figures, rather than quality, is more likely to earn a legislative candidate a House seat," Bachtiar said.

But Golkar legislator Rully Chairul Azwar refuted allegations that the ruling political group opposed political reform.

"We have repeatedly said that we want a gradual adjustment," he said.