Election politics latest hitch for reforms

Berni K. Moestafa and Fabiola Desy Unidjaja, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

After four years of waiting for reforms that have never materialized the reform movement has again bogged down, this time by politics ahead of the 2004 general elections, analysts say.

"Politicians now just want to win the 2004 general election," analyst Kusnanto Anggoro told The Jakarta Post over the weekend.

He said backdoor dealings and early campaigns had stalled legal reforms that began with the Trisakti tragedy in May 12, 1998.

Four students of the Trisakti University were shot dead, which prompted the downfall of Soeharto and initiated the reform era.

"Whatever one does, it stops with politics," Kusnanto said.

Evidence of this, analysts said, was the ominous presence of the Golkar party and the military in politics.

Both are remnants of the Soeharto regime. The reform movement crushed the regime in 1998, but their interests still remain strong four years later, said analyst Hermawan Sulistyo.

Justice over the regime's corruption and human rights violations were traded for votes, he said.

A key event illustrating the birth of reforms, and also its failure, was the 1998 shooting of the four Trisakti students.

Four years later the perpetrators still remain at large.

Many believe the students were shot to quash the reforms movement in an operation by pro status-quo military forces.

Identifying them could help unravel similar unresolved cases involving the missing reform activists now feared dead.

But the House of Representatives refused to call the Trisakti shooting a gross violation of human rights, lifting pressure on the government to investigate it.

"The old regime resurfaced and were spared the legal process with the consent of present politicians," Hermawan explained.

In this light, the detention of House Speaker Akbar Tandjung over graft allegations last March is seen as a ploy to pressure the Golkar party which Akbar chairs.

Akbar, a seasoned minister under the Soeharto administration, emerged as the Golkar chairman after the 1999 general election.

Defying its ruined reputation in 1998, Golkar came second in the election. Akbar played a key role in the victory.

Last year he pushed Megawati Soekarnoputri to the presidency, deserting former president Abdurrahman Wahid.

Abdurrahman had pressured Golkar with legal charges, and he meddled with internal reforms at the Indonesian Military (TNI).

Now the legal proceedings against Akbar have convinced few as genuine law enforcement attempts given Megawati's political debt to him.

"Too many political considerations (block) the legal process," Kusnanto said of the country's poor law enforcement.

He added the coalition government also made it hard to reach a decision without requiring the support of other political parties.

The ruling Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan) won the 1999 election narrowly against Golkar.

Consequently, PDI Perjuangan relies on smaller political parties to influence decision making against Golkar.

Kusnanto said that considering the present political constellation the public would unlikely see substantial legal reforms.

Instead, reforms would progress slowly and in small steps.

"We have wasted four years on the reforms movement, and it will take longer," he said.

But the underlying message of legal reforms is people power.

Reformers demand the revision of the 1945 Constitution to better segregate the powers of the government, and hence ensure the sovereignty of the people.

An amendment process was then launched under a commission at the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR). Only the MPR can revise the constitution.

But with a general election looming, reformers worry interest groups within the Assembly have hijacked the amendment process.

The government dismissed calls for an independent commission, while PDI Perjuangan questioned the validity of the amendment altogether.

According to lawyer Todung Mulya Lubis, politics is at work.

"The revision is deliberately being stalled, so that the 2004 elections will remain the same if new laws are not ready." Todung said last month in an interview.

Revising the election law to allow voters more control in the process, demands changes to the constitution.

He suspected PDI-Perjuangan disagreed with the process amid fears it would weaken its chances of winning the 2004 election.

"We are seeing how power tends to corrupt," Todung said.