Experts split on House rule changes

SEMARANG (JP): The controversy deepened yesterday over the Indonesian Democratic Party's (PDI) reported plan to relinquish the handful of House of Representatives' seats it won in the election.

Legal observers were split as to whether there were legal grounds for such a move and whether the House's internal rules would have to be revised should the exodus take place.

Satjipto Rahardjo of the state-run Diponegoro University said here yesterday no changes in internal House rules would be needed because of the PDI's under-representation in the House.

But constitutional law expert Mohammad Mahfud, and Muladi, the rector of Diponegoro University joined the bandwagon of experts calling for a rules adjustment in a bid to avoid deadlocks in the House's decision-making process.

The House's internal rules, adopted in 1983, stipulate that each meeting and decision in the House's 11 commissions must involve all three parties and the military faction.

Golkar, the United Development Party (PPP) and PDI contested the May 29 election for 425 of the 500 House seats. The remaining seats go to the Armed Forces, whose members do not vote.

PDI, under government-recognized chairman Soerjadi, managed to secure only 3.06 percent of the national vote, giving them 10 House seats, its worst ever election performance and one short of being able to have a representative on each commission.

The party failed to win any House seats in 19 provinces, denying chairman Soerjadi and his secretary-general Buttu Hutapea places in the legislative body.

Satjipto said the PDI's poor performance was caused by the people's rejection of the party. "We can't do anything but appreciate how people voted," he said.

He said the House's decision-making processes would be affected by PDI's under-representation, but that it would still be able to function.

House Speaker Wahono said Wednesday that current members of the legislative body should make internal rules changes the top priority before their five-year term ends on Sept. 30, one day before their successors are installed by the Chief Justice.

Wahono did not comment specifically on the PDI case, but said the rules could "be expanded in anticipation of future challenges."

Both Muladi and Mahfud suggested the incoming House members drop the clause requiring a minimum faction representation and add a clause allowing a faction to assign its members to more than one commission.

"There's nothing wrong with the imbalanced distribution of House seats, but the House must change its internal rules if it does not want to break them," said Mahfud. (har/amd)