Elect members of MPR 'for democracy's sake'

JAKARTA (JP): Political observer Maswadi Rauf said the appointment rather than election of most members the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) was hampering democratization.

"Is it appropriate that most members have not been directly elected in the general election when MPR is the state's highest institution for the people's sovereignty?" Maswadi said Saturday during an oration marking his professorship at the University of Indonesia's School of Social and Political Sciences.

"This is an example of the problems facing the democratization effort here."

The Assembly has 1,000 members, half of them are also House of Representatives (DPR) members. Fifty-seven percent of the 1,000 members are appointees from various groups, including 113 from the Armed Forces, 149 from the regional representatives faction and 100 representing various social groups.

The remaining 43 percent, or 425, are those elected in the May general election -- 325 legislators from the election victor, Golkar, 89 from the United Development Party (PPP) and 11 from the Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI).

Critics have said that the composition of the legislative bodies renders them ineffective and meek when dealing with the executive branch of power.

The Assembly will convene next March to elect a president and vice president for the 1998/2003 term and endorse the State Policy Guidelines.

Maswadi said the number of appointees from, for instance, the regional representatives faction -- many of whom were bureaucrats in provinces -- should not exceed 70. The Assembly should be filled with people who have been elected, he said.

Democratization

When asked whether his suggestion was realistic, he said: "People should try to change the conditions which have hindered democracy.

"The situation is no longer like that of 30 years ago, we must move toward democratization."

During the oration, titled Theories of Democracy and Democratization, Maswadi said developing countries face greater difficulties in their campaign for democratization than developed countries in the West.

"(This difficulty) is because the societies in developing countries demand instant democratization using the yardstick of those in the developed countries.

"Social development and cultural values in developing countries are vastly different from those in the developed countries. The most important problem facing developing countries' campaign for democratization is how to first develop socially," he said.

"It cannot be denied that the social-cultural background of the Indonesian people is a non democratic one, characterized by feudalistic values... The ruler is always considered right thus what is expected from the people is acquiescence, not inputs," he remarked. (10)