Direct presidential election 'is okay'

BANDUNG (JP): Noted Muslim intellectual Nurcholish Madjid said here on Tuesday that Indonesian people are culturally and socially ready for direct presidential elections, suitably to be held in 2004.

Speaking at a one-day seminar on Direct Presidential Election, Nurcholish refuted many beliefs that it was not the right time for Indonesians to elect a president directly.

"Direct election is the pattern of democracy which is the most democratic and basically, our people are democratic," he said, referring to the 1999 election, when Abdurrahman Wahid was elected president.

The reality was that the people accepted the ballot counting without protest. "They cast the ballots and counted them together."

"However, chaos erupted in some areas, including Surakarta and Bali, when the People's Consultative Assembly held the presidential elections," Nurcholish said. "Because people were disappointed that Megawati Soekarnoputri, who was from the political party which won in the general elections (was not elected president)."

Abdurrahman was elected president, whereas he led no single political party at the time.

Megawati is the chairperson of Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), which won the 1999 General Elections.

According to Nurcholish, the furor was due to the president being elected through indirect elections. "This triggered political games by the political elite in the Assembly, which -- psychologically -- was against people's just feelings.

"If the president had been elected through direct elections, the followers of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle would not have been that frustrated. There would have been no political maneuvers," he said.

The direct presidential election idea was accepted by all factions at the Assembly's conclusion at the Ad Hoc I Committee on May 26, 2000, he said. "But legal approval is to be given by the Assembly's General Session on Aug. 18."

Another speaker at the seminar, Andi Mallarangeng said that direct presidential elections could minimize or eliminate social conflict.

"Our people are politically more mature than the political elite. The people are now concerned about fairness not winning or losing in the elections," said the political observer. (25/sur)