Govt tries to strip independent bodies of their authority

Edith Hartanto and Moch. N. Kurniawan, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

We are back to square one. Democracy is backpedaling to what it was during the Soeharto regime, experts said here on Saturday.

"This country is practicing a fictitious democracy. The government is running an authoritarian system as it had in the past. Democracy is merely rhetorical and procedural," political observer F.X. Mudji Sutrisno, who is also a member of the General Election Commission (KPU) told The Jakarta Post.

Arbi Sanit, a senior lecturer at the University of Indonesia said that the current government still applied the same logic as the New Order government because it wanted to maintain its grip on every institution, including independent bodies.

Mudji and Arbi were asked to comment on the growing signs of government intervention in independent bodies like the KPU and the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM).

"KPU and Komnas HAM were formed to fight for the sake of the people in elections and human rights respectively. Thus, they must be nonpartisan and free from government intervention," Arbi said.

People would ask what kind of democracy is being formed in the light of such government intervention in KPU and Komnas HAM, he said.

Arbi urged the House to establish a new law that could guarantee the independence of KPU and Komnas HAM.

The House of Representatives is currently deliberating the government-backed election bill which specifies, among other things, that the KPU should be under the aegis of the Ministry of Home Affairs.

Both Mudji and Arbi agreed that the intervention showed the government's lack of commitment to political reform in the country.

Mudji said the current government did not seem to care that the two independent bodies were needed to keep reform and democracy on track.

All 11 KPU members, comprising mostly reform-minded professionals, have rejected the election bill which places their general secretariat under the Ministry of Home Affairs saying it should be under the KPU to avoid any political intervention.

The general secretariat determines KPU's organizational structure, working mechanism, finances and budget.

KPU members also rejected the provision of funding from the Ministry of Home Affairs arguing that it should be directly funded by the Ministry of Finance, which would not interfere in KPU policy, thereby assuring its independence.

Last Thursday KPU members threatened to quit unless the clause to place the KPU general secretariat under the auspices of the Ministry of Home Affairs was dropped by the House.

With regards Komnas HAM, many have questioned the credibility of government-proposed candidates that are currently being grilled through the House's fit-and-proper test.

"Many of the member candidates proposed by the government for Komnas HAM have no experience in defending human rights.

"I sense that there are efforts to weaken Komnas HAM so that future members will not be reformists and the commission will not be able to conduct investigations into human rights violations," Mudji said.

A total of 43 candidates ranging from political party members, to retired police/military members and government officials are being screened for the 35-member commission.

The other problem is that almost all candidates are between 50 years and 76 years of age, he said.

"Age could be a problem because if many Komnas HAM members were too old, they would not be able to investigate a case on the field thoroughly ... and therefore it will be a liability for the validity of the results of Komnas HAM investigations," Mudji said.

Mudji and Arbi said under the modern state theory, independent bodies like KPU and Komnas HAM were essential to help build a democratic state.

Those bodies together with three other pillars: the legislative, executive and judiciary bodies, would strive to uphold democracy.

Both cited Thailand, the Philippines, Australia and South Africa as examples of countries that have successfully established an independent election commission and human rights commission as auxiliary state bodies.