Elect members of MPR 'for democracy's sake'

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)