De jure vs de facto

SCTV's live report on "A political debate -- the coalition" on June 24, 1999, was interesting in that we could learn political lessons from the statements and arguments made by the panelists, the representatives of political parties and the participants of the discussion. The most important item in the debate, however, was the different stance adopted by Golkar Party and the National Awakening Party (PKB) with respect to the presidential election. Golkar sticks to the constitutional, procedural and legal aspects (de jure), while PKB prioritizes the aspects of substance, morality and ethics (de facto).

According to the vote count as of June 25, Golkar had collected about 52 percent of the total votes collected by the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan), namely 11,581,956 votes for Golkar and 22,435,475 votes for PDI Perjuangan. However, Golkar will receive about 75 percent of the number of seats in the House of Representatives that PDI Perjuangan will receive, namely 95 seats for Golkar and 127 for PDI Perjuangan. It is very likely, therefore, that the difference in the number of seats between Golkar and PDI Perjuangan will shrink because vote counting in Java has almost been completed while outside Java there are still a lot of seats being disputed.

Then there is also the factor of regional and social group representatives in the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR). These representatives will be given 135 and 65 seats, respectively. Besides, the United Development Party (PPP) is also likely to join Golkar and then the system of one man one vote in the presidential election is likely to allow money politics to occur. In view of all of the above, it is very likely that Golkar, with Mr. Habibie as its presidential nominee, will win the presidential election at the upcoming General Session of the MPR. Without the help of the PKB and the National Mandate Party (PAN), it will be difficult for PDI Perjuangan to ensure that its presidential candidate, Megawati Soekarnoputri, will win the presidential election. Besides, it is still anybody's guess who the 38 members of the Indonesian Military faction will vote for. All of this is disregards the fact that the number of votes collected by PDI Perjuangan in the recent polls were almost double those collected by Golkar.

Nevertheless, let's consider this presidential election wisely to ensure that this problem will be settled with the popular vote as the main frame of reference. In this way a tragedy will be avoided and everything will be in the interest of the state and the nation.

As for Golkar, they must realize that the forgiving Indonesians, who also have great tolerance, have forgiven them. But remember, they must not abuse this tolerance to fulfill their greed for power, which they never exercised in the past for the full benefit of the people.

H. WISDARMANTO

Jakarta