Government urged to review defective policies

JAKARTA (JP): The House of Representatives urged the government yesterday to be open-minded and hear the people's calls for reform.

Addressing the plenary opening session of the House commissions' hearings, Speaker Harmoko said ministers should be willing to reflect on their development policies and ask themselves whether they were still "on the right track."

"Should there be any defects or mistakes, the government should be willing to review its policies and put every effort into their improvement," he told the plenary meeting.

Harmoko said the House was ready to hold dialogs with all elements of society, including university students.

"A similar response should also be delivered by the government," he said.

Speaking about the House's response for the people's calls for reform, Harmoko said the House would facilitate this commitment through legislation.

"For us (the House), political reform will be accommodated through reviews of the existing political laws," he said.

"We (House leaders) will meet tomorrow (today) to discuss mechanisms for the intended political reform," he added.

He, however, dismissed the possibility of holding an extraordinary session of the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR).

"An extraordinary Assembly session would be held only when the President has acted against the 1945 Constitution and the State Policy Guidelines," Harmoko, also Golkar chairman, told reporters after the ceremony.

Asked about Golkar's response to calls for reforms, Harmoko said the political organization had established three different committees to prepare concepts for political, economic and legal reforms.

In a related development, the country's major student movements criticized the government yesterday as "anti-reformist" for its reluctance to carry out sweeping reform.

The Association of Moslem Students (HMI), the Association of Indonesian Catholic Students (PMKRI), the Indonesian Christian Students Movement (GMKI), and the Indonesian National Students Movement (GMNI) told a media conference that the government should be open-minded in evaluating its past "mistakes" and be willing to take measures to revive the ailing country through reforms.

The groups expressed concern that the political system places the presidency in such a "sacred" position it had become "untouchable".

"The development process in the past 30 years has made criticism of the President a political taboo," the groups said in a joint three-page statement.

The groups also criticized the Assembly's General Session in March, by calling the five-yearly political event a mere ritual.

The 1,000-strong Assembly reelected Soeharto for a seventh consecutive five-year term despite growing calls for him to step aside.

The Assembly did not reflect the country's dire economic situation or the people's hardship, the student groups said. (imn/byg)