Govt defends Moslem leaders' MPR exclusion
Govt defends Moslem leaders' MPR exclusion
JAKARTA (JP): General Elections Institute chairman Moch. Yogie
S.M. defended yesterday the exclusion of prominent Moslem figures
Abdurrahman Wahid and Amien Rais from the list of 100 candidates
representing various mass organizations in new People's
Consultative Assembly (MPR).
After attending a House of Representatives plenary session,
Yogie brushed aside questions from journalists who suggested the
selection was at the President's prerogative.
"We'd better take the lineup for granted. The public cannot
question or ask for changes," said Yogie, who is also minister of
home affairs.
The secretary-general of the elections institute, Suryatna
Subrata, said Monday the ministry had selected the 100
legislative candidates and submitted their names to the President
for verification and approval. The lineup is expected to be
announced this week.
Abdurrahman, better known as Gus Dur, heads the 30-million
strong rural-based Nahdlatul Ulama. Amien chairs the modernist
Muhammadiyah which has an estimated membership of 28 million.
Th MPR is comprised of 1,000 members -- 500 are elected
members of House of Representatives while the other 500 are
appointed by the government.
The 100 public figures nominated by the elections institute
are part of the 500 MPR legislators appointed by the government.
Another 149 people will represent the country's 27 provinces
and the remaining 251 seats go to the three political
organizations that contested the May polls and the Armed Forces.
The three political factions will each receive half of the
number of seats they won in the House of Representatives (DPR) in
the May general election.
Golkar obtained 325 House seats, the United development Party
(PPP) 89 and the Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI) 11. Seventy-
five seats have been reserved for the Armed Forces, whose members
do not vote.
The 1,000 members of DPR/MPR will be installed on Oct. 1. They
will convene next March to draw up the State Policy Guidelines
and elect a president and vice president.
Yogie said that leading the country's largest Moslem
organizations did not mean automatic qualification for the MPR.
"A mass organization leader does not necessarily represent his
or her group in MPR. Neither does a person who has a huge number
of followers," Yogie said.
He said experts could be included in the MPR lineup. Jimly
Asshidique of the influential Association of Indonesian Moslem
Intellectuals and constitutional law expert Yusril Ihza Mahendra
are a few examples of intellectuals who will join MPR.
Yogie will have an MPR seat as a representative of the
bureaucracy. Another cabinet minister named for the MPR is
Minister of Information R. Hartono.
Separately, PDI chairman Soerjadi said the party would
announce its team for the MPR general session at the conclusion
of its leadership meeting on Sept. 27.
He admitted that the party's board of executives had
considered naming secretary-general Buttu Hutapea the leader of
PDI's tiny faction at MPR.
Buttu, who was just an inch shy of securing a House seat, said
yesterday he was ready to assume the MPR post.
Golkar secretary-general Ary Marjono said after a meeting
Monday evening that the political organization would reveal its
MPR representatives on Sept. 25.
The PPP will disclose its team lineup on Sept. 26, according
to its deputy secretary Zarkasih Nur. (amd)