Democracy, power brokers in mike-happy MPR

Democracy, power brokers in mike-happy MPR

JAKARTA (JP): When the newly sworn in members of the People's
Consultative Assembly (MPR) held a plenary session on Oct. 2 to
vote for changes to its internal rules, I was watching from the
Assembly hall's balcony with excitement.

This was a moment I had longed to witness. An actual
democratic process was happening in this "People's building".

It had a similar novel feeling, like when I got to write "the
former president Soeharto" for the first time last year after
having grown up under the impression that there would only be one
Indonesian president in my lifetime.

The new MPR members were brave. They were outspoken, they were
critical, they were skeptical, they were ... well, obnoxious.

It was amusing initially. But as the night edged toward
morning, and as petty debates and childish remarks got in the way
of accomplishing the main task -- and editors back at the office
were getting restless over meeting deadlines -- my amusement
gradually turned into annoyance.

Below me, a sea of over 600 adults bringing various agenda,
led by two inexperienced acting speakers, could not even agree on
one thing: how to vote. In the balcony, fellow journalists -- the
remaining few mostly from TV, afternoon papers, magazines and
wire services -- seemed to share the same frustrations.

We sighed each time the microphone-happy MPR members tried to
outpace each other to seize another opportunity of
"interruption". We griped at the speakers' indecisiveness and
inability to maintain order and were irate at members who used
their speaking privilege so liberally to voice irrelevant views.

We must have secretly wished we could gavel the MPR members to
silence, or join the flood of interruptions to tell them to stop
talking and start listening.

This, of course, is a sign of democracy. I understand that in
some countries it gets even worse. Verbal battles are not enough
as parliament members often engage in physical aggression.

But then I remembered that just a day before, the unpopular
President B.J. Habibie was booed by these very people as the
ever-smiling, unsuspecting President strode down the aisle to
attend their inauguration. One only has to go to the nearest high
school to feel what it's like to be among the rowdy members that
day.

Later, when the Assembly voted for the House of
Representatives (DPR) speaker on early Wednesday morning, two
people cast votes for presidential hopeful Megawati Soekarnoputri
and the Crescent Star Party chairman, Yusril Ihza Mahendra --
neither of whom belonged to the race.

While this might capture the attention of the lethargic House
members at 2:30 a.m., it was an insult to the institution and the
people it represented. Either the two voters were fanatics or
they simply mistook the supreme legislative body as a game venue.

Our new MPR members are no doubt capable of channeling the
aspirations of their constituents and their parties. But their
poor show of manner and refusal to bow to order made them
susceptible to mockery, instead of earning them fresh respect
from the people watching them live from their living room. They
gave a whole new meaning to the request: "interruption, plenary
chief".

But still, I would not have had it any other way.

Though the General Session at times dragged on painfully,
progress was made -- and every time that happened my skepticism
gave way to my impressionable, giddy self.

That chaotic first election, a mechanism nonexistent in
Soeharto's MPR, turned out to be just a bad case of
unpreparedness. The next day the Assembly members were on their
best manners when they lined up to vote for their chairman.

Credit should also go out to a handful of seasoned
politicians, the masters of the art of lobbying, who were in on
endless backroom deals, exchanging favors and securing
concessions, while fellow MPR members spent their free time
watching HBO in hotel rooms or frequenting karaoke bars.

These power brokers are the ones who, in a way, manipulate our
simple concept of democracy and turn it into a complex, entangled
and unpredictable political web. They are also the ones
responsible for helping turn rival party leaders to literally
share powers.

I actually took pleasure in watching the politicians toil for
hours in meetings, coaxing or bluffing rival partisans for a
compromise -- their bloodshot eyes showing sleep deprivation and
their faces paling as vote results were counted -- before finally
securing their desired results.

After this exhilarating experience, I doubt that any
Indonesian would ever want to see a president handpick MPR
leaders as was the past practice.

From now on, it should always be the other way around.

-- Devi M. Asmarani