Avoid government, House antagonism, Soeharto says

JAKARTA (JP): The House of Representatives (DPR) has a position equal to that of the president, and the two state institutions should cooperate rather than engage in confrontation, President Soeharto says.

Soeharto pointed out in his meeting with the new House leadership yesterday the country needed a strong government as well as solid representative bodies in order to deal with increasingly complicated challenges in the next century.

"The President said the two high institutions should avoid power struggles and not harass each other," House Speaker Harmoko said after meeting with Soeharto at Merdeka Palace.

Yesterday's meeting was Harmoko's first as Soeharto's equal. He served Soeharto as minister of information for 14 years before being replaced by Gen. (ret) R. Hartono in June.

Harmoko was later appointed state minister for special assignments, a position he held briefly until his induction as a legislator on Oct. 1. He is also the speaker of the 1,000-strong People's Consultative Assembly (MPR), the highest state body which has the authority to elect and dismiss a president.

Harmoko said: "I reported in our consultation the recent developments in the House."

Harmoko was accompanied yesterday by four deputy speakers: Lt. Gen. Syarwan Hamid of the Armed Forces (ABRI) faction, Abdul Gafur of the dominant Golkar faction (which Harmoko also chairs), Ismail Hasan Metareum of the United Development Party (PPP) and Fatimah Achmad of the tiny Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI).

The 500-strong House of Representatives is made up of 325 Golkar legislators, 89 PPP representatives, and 11 members from the PDI. The remaining 75 seats have been given to the Armed Forces whose members do not vote.

Members of the House automatically also belong to the MPR. The other 500 seats in the Assembly have been distributed to the three poll contestants, ABRI, national organizations and institutions, and various professions.

Analysts have long said the House has been too submissive to the point of being a mere rubber stamp for the executive body.

"We agreed with the President that the DPR should take more initiatives in creating legislation," Harmoko said.

The New Order government has seen 375 executive branch- initiated bills deliberated in the DPR, but there has not been any single bill initiated by the House in the last 29 years.

Draft

Separately, minority factions PPP and PDI continued yesterday with their struggle to have their drafts of state policies used as a reference for deliberation at the MPR working committee sessions.

H.M. Buang of the PPP and Sudaryanto of the PDI separately said they were maintaining their stance despite the dominant Golkar faction's insistence to have its own draft used.

Golkar enjoys the support of the equally powerful Armed Forces faction and the regional representatives faction.

"This (competition) occurs because each faction believes its own draft is the best. The PPP draft was drawn up in a process that involved experts, ulemas and the public, in order to ensure that it accommodated many people's aspirations," Buang was quoted by Antara as saying.

The stalemate over the issue in the MPR working committee began Wednesday and continued yesterday. The Armed Forces faction, however, rejected the possibility of voting in order to end the deadlock.

"We are trying to prevent it (a vote) from happening," said Hari Sabarno, the faction's spokesman. "ABRI will try to bridge all factions' views."

Although voting is not against any laws, it is frowned upon by Indonesians who place greater importance on reaching a consensus through deliberation.

"If deliberation is no longer possible, maybe then we can hold a vote," Hari was quoted by Antara as saying.

The MPR working committee is in charge of both preparing a document of state policy guidelines, to be adopted next March, and electing a president and vice president for the 1998/2003 term. (prb/swe)