Golkar irate over scholar's remark

JAKARTA (JP): A top executive in the ruling Golkar is furious with academic Mochtar Pabottingi for calling President Soeharto's New Order an "emergency" government.

Pinantun Hutasoit, a deputy Golkar chair, said the current administration cannot be considered an emergency government because President Soeharto sticks to the 1945 Constitution.

"Anyone who considers the New Order government to be an emergency one must have a sick mind (sinting), especially when they don't have clear reasoning," Hutasoit was quoted by Antara as saying Thursday.

Hutasoit was responding to Mochtar's remarks during a hearing with members of the House of Representatives Commission X on Wednesday.

Mochtar leads a team of researchers from the Indonesian Institute of Sciences, which was appointed by the President to conduct research on the most suitable electoral system for Indonesia.

While the research is nearly complete, he declined to go into specifics. The study found that, ideally, Indonesia should adopt a "district" electoral system, in which voters choose figures to represent them in the House. The system, the study found, is theoretically better than the current "proportional" system in which people vote for the contesting political parties, which will select the representatives for voters.

But Mochtar noted that such a change would require the political readiness of Indonesians in general. He also noted that the implementation of any electoral system would depend on the policy of the New Order government "which is emergency in nature." Mochtar did not elaborate.

President Soeharto replaced president Sukarno's "Old Order" government, which some considered a "deviation" from the 1945 Constitution.

"The New Order government implements the Constitution as properly as possible. Any opinion that it is an emergency government should be straightened out," Hutasoit said.

"Besides, all laws are made together with the House and the People's Consultative Assembly," he added.

Hutasoit said that Golkar, as the dominant political organization, is ready to accept any electoral system that Indonesia adopts.

"If the district system is adopted, Golkar will be even more dominant because the organization has a lot of well-known figures in the provinces that voters can choose to represent them," he said.

He added, however, that Golkar would not insist on instituting a district system if the United Development Party and the Indonesian Democratic Party were to reject it. (pan)