Experts propose district system for 2004 elections

Experts propose district system for 2004 elections

JAKARTA (JP): Political and legal experts said on Tuesday the
district system should be implemented for the 2004 elections to
put an end to the national leadership crises.

They also urged a direct presidential election in 2004.

Ramlan Surbakti, a political lecturer at Surabaya's Airlangga
University, said past elections had proven that the proportional
system was not effective for choosing qualified legislators,
because voters had limited knowledge of the legislative
candidates.

"The fact that most legislators have been under fire for their
lack of concern for the problems the people are facing has a
correlation with the electoral system of past elections," he said
on the first day of a two-day seminar to discuss a number of
bills set to be reviewed by the House of Representatives.

Bills on general elections, political parties and the
composition of the People's Consultative Assembly, the House and
provincial and regency legislatures are slated to be submitted by
the government to the House for endorsement by the end of this
year.

Sri Sumantri, a constitutional law expert from Padjadjaran
University in Bandung, West Java, said direct presidential and
vice presidential elections should be held simultaneously with
the 2004 general election to allow the people to elect a
legitimate president and vice president.

"But a direct presidential election can only be held if the
Constitution is amended," he said.

Proposals to implement the district system and a direct
presidential election in 2004 have been opposed by the Indonesian
Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan) and the Golkar
Party, the two major parties in the House. The two parties have
said the people of Indonesia are not politically ready for these
election systems.

Both a coalition of non-governmental organizations and the
Research Institute for Democracy and Peace have proposed a
combination of the proportional and district systems.

Ramlan said that with the district system it would no longer
be necessary to use the electoral threshold in general elections,
because all that would matter was that legislative candidates won
the support of their constituents. The electoral threshold is the
percentage of votes a political party has to receive to be
eligible to contest the next general election.

"All parties would be allowed to contest the elections and
only popular and qualified candidates would win the support of
voters," he said.

Sri Bintang Pamungkas, the chairman of the Indonesian
Democratic Union Party (PUDI), criticized the articles on the
electoral threshold contained in the draft bill on general
elections. He said any political party had the right to contest
elections in the era of the multiparty system.

"Even a group of local people in a district has the right to
establish their own party and contend the elections to secure
seats in their regency legislature," he said.

Bagir Manan, a law professor at Padjadjaran University,
criticized the draft bill on general elections, saying it was too
detailed. He said all the practical and technical matters
contained in the bill should be contained in a government
regulation to ensure their long-term acceptability.

"We need to have a law that will be acceptable for a long
time," he said.

A number of experts also criticized the draft bill that
regulates the numerous tasks of the General Elections Commission
(KPU). They insisted the commission should have as its sole
mission the organizing of free, fair and efficient elections.

"The commission's detailed tasks cannot be regulated in a
government regulation. Of utmost importance is that the
commission not function as a rival legislative body, as happened
in the past," said Ismail Sunny, a constitutional law professor
at the University of Indonesia (UI).

Maswadi Rauf, a political expert from UI, defended the planned
reintroduction of the recall mechanism, as stipulated in the
draft bill on general elections. He said it would allow an honor
council at the House to take action against legislators who
violate the body's code of ethics.

"Legislators who are found guilty of violating the code of
ethics should be recalled," he said.

The recall mechanism, which was used during former president
Soeharto's New Order regime to silence outspoken legislators, was
dropped from the law on general elections to prevent the
arbitrary dismissal of legislators. (rms)