Bill empowers political parties to oust dissenting legislators

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

In yet another sign of a return to New Order policies, the government is now drafting a bill that will give more power to political parties to expel non-conformist legislators from the House of Representatives, likely quelling opposition voices, an essential ingredient in a healthy democracy.

Speaking to reporters after a limited Cabinet meeting discussing political bills, Minister of Home Affairs Hari Sabarno explained that the bill on the rank and position of legislators and regional representative members would allow political parties to withdraw their members from the legislature for any perceived offense.

The draft law required House members to surrender their seats should the party they represent fire them.

At present, a House member may retain his or her seat despite having been fired by his/her political party.

Hartono Mardjono and Abdul Kadir Jaelani are those who still occupy their legislature seats despite being dismissed by their party, the Crescent Star Party. They are now independent legislators, not affiliated with any faction at the House.

The draft law would effectively be another step back toward the policies of the New Order era, in which political parties were allowed to change their members whenever they considered it necessary, which was criticized by the reform movement as quashing any dissenting or opposition voices.

Hari also said that the bill would require the establishment of an honorary committee to supervise the performance and conduct of legislators.

"The honorary committee may take stern measures against lawmakers who have violated the code of conduct (for legislators). But, there is a chance for them to defend themselves before the committee," he explained.

In addition, Hari said the limited Cabinet meeting also discussed a presidential bill, and the bill would be deliberated separately with the general election bill, currently under debate by the lawmakers.

"The general election is for legislators, the presidential election for presidents, so it's better to separate them," said Minister of Home Affairs Hari Sabarno on Thursday after a Cabinet meeting discussing the presidential election draft law.

Hari added that despite the separate bills, the general election would still consist of one ballot to vote for political parties and the president.

Voters here will, for the first time ever, be allowed to directly elect the president in 2004. But the laws to allow election organizers to start preparing have yet to be finalized.

The General Election Commission (KPU) demanded the laws be ready by the end of this year at the latest. Having said earlier that it needed two years to properly organize the election slated for June or July 2004, KPU must now settle with less than one and-a-half years of preparation.

But Hari assured the KPU that the government would meet the deadline. "We have our target for passing the bills, and we won't hamper the KPU from meeting their target."

Also crucial to the 2004 election is the deliberation of the political parties bill which will define the criteria of what constitutes a party, its rights and obligations.

Also discussed was the status of the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) which before the recent amendments to the Constitution was the country's highest law-making body.

A coalition of non-government organizations (NGOs), also weighed in on the new political laws, and proposed on Thursday that parties should be able to receive more money.

The NGOs said they wanted to raise the ceiling for campaign funds to Rp 5 billion (about US$568,000) from Rp 500 million for donations from companies or organizations, and to Rp 1 billion from Rp 50 million for donations from individuals.

Indonesia's difficult archipelagic geography made campaigning a costly effort, the coalition reasoned. It was speaking before the House's special committee that is drafting the general election bill.

They were quick to add, however, that with more money there would have to be tighter scrutiny on the flow of campaign funds. Among the measures suggested was for parties to set up a special campaign-only bank account to separate the cashflow with those of the party's day-to-day operations.

The coalition included Indonesian Corruption Watch (ICW), the Indonesian Institute of Legal Aid Foundation, the Indonesian Environment Forum (Walhi), and the Center for Electoral Reforms (Cetro).