Free, fair polls needed to be ensured: Experts

Free, fair polls needed to be ensured: Experts

JAKARTA (JP): Political science experts told legislators
yesterday that it was more important to ensure free and fair
polls than to debate over what kind of electoral system should be
adopted.

Speaking at a hearing of House of Representatives Commission
II for home affairs, political scientists Mochtar Pabottinggi and
Miriam Budiardjo said that past problems with elections were not
caused by the system itself, but by certain parties who
manipulated elections to serve their own ends.

"It's not the system which should be changed, but the way in
which we approach general elections," Mochtar Pabottinggi of the
National Institute of Sciences (LIPI) told legislators.

The two experts pointed out that in the past, elections
deviated from the basic principles laid out to ensure they were
free and fair.

"We should not blame the system but the New Order government
who manipulated the true purpose of elections to serve their own
interests," Mochtar told reporters after the meeting.

He said the Soeharto government had used elections to
perpetuate its power, not to uphold popular sovereignty through
democracy.

Mochtar, who heads LIPI's Center for Political Studies, warned
that merely changing the electoral system would have little
impact on the political conditions in the country unless the
nation, and in particular the government, were thoroughly
prepared.

Mochtar was formerly chairman of a team set up to study the
current electoral system by former president Soeharto in 1995.

His report concluded by saying that democracy would only be
achieved when the people themselves elected candidates to the
House of Representatives instead of having them appointed through
a proportional system.

Currently voters choose one of the three recognized political
organizations -- Golkar, the United Development Party (PPP), and
the Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI).

Seats in the House are divided between the parties according
to the number of votes they receive. Each party then selects its
legislators from a previously prepared list until it has no more
seats to fill.

There are 425 elected seats in the House. A further 75 are
allocated to the Armed Forces faction, who do not stand for
election.

The People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) is made up of all
members of the House and a further 500 delegates from the
regional assemblies, all of whom are selected and appointed by
the president.

Miriam also said that the present system could serve the
nation's needs if elections were implemented in a fair and just
manner.

She said that in the forthcoming polls the government should
abolish the "floating mass" policy which bans political activity
in districts and villages and should also allow civil servants
freedom to vote for whichever party they want.

Civil servants are currently required to vote for Golkar.

Both Miriam and Mochtar seemed inclined to support a
continuation of the proportional electoral system which they said
could better accommodate a multi-party system. A district
electoral system, they argued, would only benefit large parties.

"In a district system, votes gained by candidates from a
losing party would not count for anything," Miriam said.

"A district electoral system could be introduced after the
next election because by then there will have been enough time to
discuss the concept with the public," she added. (byg)