Electoral plan draws mixed reactions

Electoral plan draws mixed reactions

JAKARTA (JP): Local and foreign experts have given mixed
reactions to the proposed electoral system -- a combination of
the current proportional representation system and a district
one.

Dwight Y. King, associate professor of political science at
Northern Illinois University in the United States, hailed the
proposed system as promising, saying: "It looks to me like the
best world system and I'm very interested in thinking about its
implications".

"I mean there is no right way to run a fair general election
because it depends on the values we want to maximize. So, it's a
nice balance between representativeness and accountability," he
said on the first day of an international conference on
Structural Reforms for Democratization in Indonesia, here
yesterday.

Daniel S. Lev, a professor of political science at the
University of Washington in Seattle, said that a fair general
election depended not on what system was applied but how it was
run.

"My point is that the key problem isn't about the system but
the national commitment to conduct a fair and democratic
election," he said.

Afan Gaffar of Gadjah Mada University in Yogyakarta and Ramlan
Surbakti of Airlangga University in Surabaya defended the mixed
electoral system. They both said it was designed to establish a
more representative legislature with a high degree of
accountability and a more stable government.

Gaffar said the nation should learn from the past when the New
Order regime manipulated the electoral laws and the proportional
representation system "to oppress minority political parties" and
to create a ruling party which always gained an absolute
majority.

Ramlan said the mixed system was aimed at maximizing
advantages in the district system by upholding democracy in
Indonesia and eliminate the disadvantages by combining it with
the proportional system.

Gaffar and Ramlan are members of the six-member team appointed
by the government to draft the new laws on political parties,
general elections and the role of the People's Consultative
Assembly and House of Representatives.

The three draft laws are currently at the State Secretariat en
route to the House for deliberation.

Andrew Reynolds, assistant professor of international studies
at Notre Dame University in the United States, disagreed with the
application of the district system.

He said that Indonesia was very large and a majority of its
population was concentrated in Java while regions outside Java
had yet to posses quality human resources to implement this type
of system.

"Besides, exclusive, sectarian groups based on ethnicity and
religion could rise from the districts," he said.

Miriam Budiardjo of the University of Indonesia concurred. She
said there would not be enough time to publicize the new system
and added the numerous political parties would not be ready to
implement it.

"In my opinion it would be wise not to introduce the proposed
system at this point in time. It will need time to publicize."

Miriam said it would also be very difficult to divide the
country into districts fairly because they would most likely be
determined based on administrative second tier (regency)
government lines, which do not always adequately reflect a
division of voters. (rms)