Countdown begins to MPR sessions

One month from today, the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) will open its General Session in Jakarta, its members invested with the imposing task of charting the nation's course for the next five years. The media has been abuzz with speculation about the event, gnawing on questions of presidential and vice presidential elections, and the drafting of the State Policy Guidelines. Yet the public seems removed from this intense anticipation. The Jakarta Post team Ahmad Junaidi, Arief Suhardiman, Ati Nurbaiti, Benget Simbolon, Emmy Fitri, Kornelius Purba and Riyadi seek out the meaning of the Assembly in this article, and related stories on Page 8.

JAKARTA (JP): As the MPR working committees wound up meetings last week to finalize drafts of documents which the Assembly would endorse in March, a nagging question played on the minds of many onlookers.

How effective would the general session be in solving the economic crisis?

It is a valid query because, according to media coverage, the committees virtually ignored issues related to the crisis in finalizing the March agenda.

Such reports inevitably breed public skepticism and doubt.

A senior high school teacher in nearby Tangerang characterized the MPR with brimming cynicism.

"Does the Assembly pay any attention to the misery people like us have to face?" asked 46-year-old Taher (not his real name).

"Will it seriously push the government to help the poor weather this crisis?"

The instructor in Pancasila ideology said people had more pressing concerns to think about than the General Session.

"Like me, most people are much more interested in how the government intends to stem the rising prices of goods."

The working committees have finalized the Guidelines of State Policy (GBHN), a blueprint for the government for the 1998/2003 period, and a host of decrees.

The latter includes one that would allow for utilization of extraordinary presidential powers in times of crisis.

Another item on the March agenda -- the election of the president -- is now almost a foregone conclusion.

Soeharto, the incumbent President, accepted last month the proposal by the powerful coalition of the military, bureaucracy and Golkar to remain at the nation's helm for a seventh five-year term.

With most issues settled even before the 1,000 MPR members check in to their hotel rooms later this month, the general session will basically amount to a banging of gavels as the parade of items is approved.

The only pending issue is the election of a vice president, by convention a prerogative of the elected president. This could provide the lone highlight of the event.

Like Taher, many members of the public are unconvinced by both the abilities of the MPR members and the function of the Assembly.

Few believe it is the democratically run institution set out in the 1945 Constitution, Taher said.

"Many people know the sessions in the past were the results of political engineering by the dominant factions," he said.

Leo, an employee of a telecommunications consultancy company, voiced similar misgivings, but demanded that members "should try much harder" in this time of crisis.

Other members of the public merely wished for peaceful MPR proceedings, fearing that any disturbance would lead to more price hikes.

Business leaders are more aware of the importance of the MPR session, but their chief concern also lies with the economy.

"The candidate for the vice president should be capable, not only in maintaining stability and unity, but also in helping the president restore the economy to normalcy," said Iman Taufik, a leading executive in the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Trade.

Iman said the GBHN were too lofty. "I fear they would meet the same fate as past GBHNs -- good on paper but poor in implementation."

The final draft of the GBHN will center around the framework provided by Golkar.

A call for public input for the discussion was ignored, an expert said, adding it was effectively dead on arrival due to public apathy.

"Apathy will increase if the MPR remains what it is," said Surabaya-based sociologist Hotman Siahaan. "Who would want to participate? They know the President will be reelected, so they feel they have nothing more to add."

Hotman said members of the public had fewer expectations of the Assembly and its representatives than of the government, although at times they still distrusted the latter.

The working committees, which began debating the drafts in November, did face unusually strong calls from both inside and outside the body than in the past.

The minority United Development Party (PPP) and Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI) forged an alliance to push for electoral reforms, as they had done in the past.

But their efforts were virtually steamrolled by the powerful coalition of Golkar, the Armed Forces and the regional representatives factions.

The assembly also confronted louder demands for political reforms from the outside, including political scholars and researchers, students and leading public figures.

Reformists argued that the economic crisis had turned into one of confidence, and then into a political crisis, which could only be solved through sweeping political reform.

In an unprecedented move, some even called for change in the national leadership.

Golkar, while careful not to dismiss outright these sentiments, insisted the dominant faction advocated gradual and peaceful change.

Political analyst Maswadi Rauf said the system made it impossible to expect much initiative for reform from the MPR itself.

"Every time there is a call for change, it comes up against rejection," Maswadi said.

He agreed that MPR members should display greater sensitivity toward the aspirations of the people in order to bolster their interest in politics.

"They should be more sensitive if people are not to remain indifferent," Maswadi said.