Experts lambast House's lack of support for KPU

Edith Hartanto and Moch. N. Kurniawan, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Experts have lambasted legislators for belittling the importance of an independent General Elections Commission (KPU) in ensuring a free and fair election in 2004.

A senior executive of the Center for Electoral Reform (Cetro), Hadar N. Gumay, and KPU member F.X. Mudji Sutrisno stressed on Tuesday that one of the preconditions to holding a free and fair democratic election was that the KPU had to be free from any government intervention.

"There's no way the KPU will be independent if its secretariat general is placed under the authority of the government. This situation would make it easy for the government to interfere in the KPU," Hadar told The Jakarta Post.

Hadar was referring to an election bill being deliberated by the House of Representatives, which specifies that KPU's secretariat general would be under the Ministry of Home Affairs.

Legislators said on Saturday the KPU would still be able to operate independently if its secretariat general was placed under the auspices of the ministry.

Agustin Teras Narang of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan) faction, the head of the House Commission II in charge of the election bill deliberations, and Yahya Zaini of the Golkar Party, who is a member of the commission, argued the KPU could not receive its budget from the government if it was not placed under the ministry.

Experts contend that the KPU will only become an autonomous body when it obtains its funding from the Ministry of Finance.

Under the current election bill, most of the power and authority to organize general polls still rests with the Ministry of Home Affairs -- instead of the commission.

Hadar said legislators had to learn some lessons from poll organizers in countries such as Thailand, the Philippines and Australia, who have successfully held democratic elections.

In Thailand, an elections commission has full authority to administer the polls, without any intervention from the government, said Hadar.

"In Thailand the commission hires its own staff, unlike here where the Ministry of Home Affairs places its staff on the KPU," he said.

In Australia, an autonomous state poll commission has a one- roof system, in which all its staff are answerable to the commission and have no affiliation with other ministries, according to Hadar.

Mudji said a general poll commission was supposed to function as an independent auxiliary body, with the authority to organize a fair and credible election, according to the concepts of a modern democratic state.

"The legislators have to realize that the consequences will be disastrous if the current bill -- which allow for the interference of the Ministry of Home Affairs via the KPU's secretariat general -- is passed into law. It is the same as legalizing government interference in the KPU," Mudji told the Post .

Most, if not all, of the 11 KPU members are respected and independent-minded scholars with no known ties to political parties. Some also have proven track records in campaigning for a more democratic Indonesia.

But KPU's lack of authority would hamper its work in preparing a credible general poll.

One simple example was KPU's inability to replace some 120 "incompetent" civil servants working for the commission, recruited by the ministry.

"We don't even have any authority to recruit and dismiss the staff. It's crazy, because we need qualified staff of a certain standard on the KPU to organize a general poll," Mudji said.

Both Hadar and Mudji called on legislators to legally guarantee the KPU's independence, to allow it to hold a credible general election.

The nation deserves a better election than the 1999 polls, Mudji said.