Factions back to barracks to avoid deadlock

JAKARTA (JP): Legislators at the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) were forced yesterday to return to their respective factions for consultation following a deadlock in deliberations on the state policy guidelines.

The glitch was on the question of whose draft of state policy guidelines was to be used as a reference for creating the new guidelines. Whichever draft was chosen would be expected to be adopted as the 1998/2003 State Policy Guidelines, the blueprint of Indonesian development, in the MPR session next March.

The ruling Golkar faction wanted to have its draft used, as did the much smaller faction of the United Development Party (PPP). The tiny Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI) wanted to use the previous, 1993/1998 draft.

The regional representatives and the powerful Armed Forces factions both have their own drafts, but had expressed support for Golkar's draft.

The stalemate occurred because both the PPP and PDI refused to back down, while ABRI had promised to do its best to prevent a vote on the issue.

The chairman of the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) ad hoc committee in charge of drafting state policies, R. Hartono, said after a short plenary session that he expected the factions' internal meetings would help find a common stand when deliberation resumed on Monday.

"The request (to adjourn for consultations) itself is progress in our deliberation because it shows that we are moving closer to each other. We hope we can make further progress in the next meeting," Hartono said.

He said he would approach the leaders of all the factions in the Assembly to help the committee clear the hurdles.

"I personally know them (faction leaders) as people who think positively about this committee and are very accommodative," Hartono said.

The committee will have to complete its job by Jan. 22.

In spite of the deadlock, Hartono hailed the way the deliberation proceeded this week.

"We are working as a team. No faction is bigger or stronger than the others. There were differences yesterday and the day before, but today (yesterday) we reached a mutual understanding," Hartono said.

PPP representative Ali Marwan Hanan said his faction would meet today to talk about compromises it would possibly offer in Monday's session.

He pointed out how the PPP could have accepted the Golkar draft except for the fact that the grouping wanted the document to be treated in such a way that would override all other incompatible drafts.

The PPP has already offered to make major changes in its draft, including the introduction of a stipulation that would give the next president extra power to take preemptive safety measures if the country came under threat.

"The reason to incorporate the ruling on presidential power into the state policy guidelines is efficiency, because it would be the president who would carry out the guidelines," Ali said.

Golkar insisted that the extra power should be regulated in a separate, even more powerful, decree.

The other Assembly committee, which deals with decrees other than state policy guidelines, got off to a brisk start yesterday.

Deputy chairman of the committee, Akbar Tandjung, said that a plenary session on Monday would officially approve the deliberation of Assembly decrees regarding the Assembly's internal rules, its state policy guidelines, presidential accountability, the election of a president, and the election of a vice president. (amd)