Call for limit on political parties meets opposition
Call for limit on political parties meets opposition
Kurniawan Hari, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Political analysts lambasted the alumni of the National
Resilience Institute (Lemhannas) who have called for a limit on
the number of political parties to contend the 2004 general
election, saying that the idea was conservative and undemocratic.
The Lemhannas alumni have recently raised the idea with House
of Representatives leaders on the grounds that it was needed to
create political stability as well as to spur economic growth.
"I think the idea is undemocratic and weird. It is
conservative," Daniel Sparingga of the Surabaya-based Airlangga
University (UNAIR) told The Jakarta Post on Sunday.
He said that political stability could not be pursued simply
by limiting the number of political parties.
Hadar N. Gumay of the Center for Electoral Reform (CETRO)
concurred and said that such a limitation would hamper the
development of democracy in the nation.
He said that the limit on new political parties would give
further opportunity to old parties to regain power. "It is a
threat. Because it will give the opportunity to old powers to
return," Hadar told the Post.
Spokesman for Lemhannas alumni Agum Gumelar said that a
similar recommendation would be presented to President Megawati
Soekarnoputri.
Besides reducing the number of political parties, the
Lemhannas alumni also called for a reduction in the number of
factions in the legislature to ensure quick and effective
decision making.
To date, over 250 political parties have registered with the
Ministry of Justice and Human Rights to contend the general
election.
Both Daniel and Hadar emphasized that the increasing number of
political parties was the result of the reform movement and that
blaming the increase of political parties was ridiculous.
Hadar said that the era of reform must be seen as a
transitional period, which of course takes a long time.
"The huge number of political parties registered with the
government cannot be used to justify limiting contenders," Hadar
said, adding that all should let the people select the number of
political parties through the general election.
Both Hadar and Daniel agreed that the current laws on
political parties and elections had posed strict legal and
administrative requirements on politicians to set up political
parties.
According to the law, a political party is required to have
chapters in 50 percent of both provinces and regencies and this
must be shown in official documents before its existence is
accepted by the government.
Daniel predicted that the current political parties would
merge naturally in the next 10 to 20 years to strengthen
themselves.
Those political parties, he said, would be divided into groups
depending on their political platform and ideology. "It is not
necessary to make such a limitation but let time and nature
select them and encourage them to merge to form between five and
seven major parties some time in the distant future."