Direct election push losing ground

JAKARTA (JP): The call for a direct presidential election seems to be losing ground as major factions in the People's Consultative Assembly did not address the issue during Thursday's plenary session.

The Indonesia Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan), in delivering its opinion on amendments to the 1945 Constitution, which was read by Umar Hadi, made no mention of direct presidential elections. The party consistently has rejected this system.

The Golkar Party faction, which initially indicated its support for direct presidential elections, seemed to confirm the suspicions of many people that it had veered from its original position.

Its statements were generally neutral, expressing neither support nor rejection of the issue.

"Golkar Party considers the idea of direct presidential elections a democratic and healthy idea. The people have the right to choose their leaders. The Golkar Party faction asks other factions to discuss and determine the best way to elect the president and vice president," the faction's speaker, Hajriyanto Thohari, said.

Calls for direct presidential elections received growing support from the general public after a group of non-governmental organizations led by the Center for Electoral Reform launched a public campaign in May.

While support also seemed to be growing in the Assembly, the proposal is doomed to failure if neither of the major factions in the Assembly -- PDI Perjuangan with 185 seats and Golkar with 182 seat -- throws its full support behind it.

Amendments need the support of two-thirds of the 700-member Assembly to pass.

The United Development Party (PPP) faction and the National Awakening Party (PKB) faction already have expressed support for direct presidential elections.

Zainuddin Isman of PPP read out on Thursday his faction's support for direct presidential elections beginning in 2004.

"The PPP faction considers the direct election of the president and vice president by the people as the best way in the future," Zainuddin said.

The PKB faction, in its statement read by Ali Masykur Musa, expressed similar support.

"Our faction supports a pure direct electoral system where the president and vice president are elected as a single package directly by the people," Ali Masykur said.

Speaking to journalists later on Thursday, senior PDI Perjuangan member Jacob Tobing said his party felt the people were not educated enough or ready for the responsibility of directly electing the president.

"It is a fact that a majority of the 200 million population are not educated and aren't ready for a direct presidential election. The nation is starting to learn democracy."

He claimed PDI Perjuangan would support this idea only if its interests were purely self-serving, because the party would likely win a direct presidential election.

"Megawati is truly a saleable figure as evidenced in the last general election," he said.

He also said a direct presidential election could produce an authoritarian government. "Under such a system, a president can ignore the House of Representatives, saying through the election they received a full mandate from the people to run their government. This could be counterproductive to the ongoing reforms." (dja/rms)