Assembly split over two crucial issues

JAKARTA (JP): After making some progress, the deliberation of the State Policy Guidelines in the People's Consultative Assembly ended on a low note yesterday as it failed to reach a unanimous agreement on the last two motions discussed.

Chairman of the Assembly's ad hoc committee in charge of the policy guidelines, R. Hartono, could not hide his disappointment after witnessing the United Development Party (PPP) resist a compromise to settle debates on the floating mass policy and election rules.

"We were an inch to reaching the finish, after a long debate, but now we have to go back to the start," Hartono said.

He said that due to PPP's rejection, the debates on the two crucial issues might have to be brought to the second stage of the Assembly's general session next March. In the past, the March general session was held only to seek approval from 1,000 Assembly members.

The four factions in the Assembly other than PPP approved yesterday a dominant faction Golkar-sponsored draft on election rule changes to be enclosed as an appendix to the 1998/2003 State Policy Guidelines. The Moslem-based faction, however, insisted that the draft be included in the body of the policy guidelines.

Under Indonesia's so-called Pancasila democracy, a unanimous approval is always sought and voting is always avoided in a decision making process.

Hartono said the Golkar-sponsored draft offered improvement for the administration of the general elections, and although it is not part of the policy guidelines, it suggests amendment of government regulations on elections.

"But PPP says they are not enough," Hartono said.

The draft says the three political organizations contesting the general elections will be "involved effectively in the planning, implementation and supervision of the polls from the top administrative level to the villages".

Hartono said each poll contestant would have representatives in the government-sanctioned team which carry out the registration of voters and ballot counting.

Each poll contestant will also receive copies of the vote counting results, according to Hartono.

Chief of the PPP faction in the Assembly, Jusuf Syakir, defended his team's bold stance, saying the draft would lack legitimacy if it was not included in the policy guidelines.

"We learned from the previous general session five years ago when we agreed to drop our motion on election rules changes. It turned out that the general election last year was marked with irregularities," Jusuf said.

PPP offered its own draft which demands that the principle of a fair and honest election must be explicitly shown in the policy guidelines.

However, Jusuf said PPP would be prepared to settle the difference in opinion through lobbying before the first stage of the general session ends next Thursday.

"We hope we won't have to have a second deliberation of the motions next March," he said. (amd)