Habibie enacts three new political laws

JAKARTA (JP): President B.J. Habibie has enacted three political laws around which the general election in June will be organized, effectively foreclosing any further revisions.

Speaker of the House of Representatives (DPR) Harmoko announced on Thursday that Habibie signed the three bills -- on political parties, on general elections, and on the composition of the People's Consultative Assembly, the DPR and the provincial and regency legislatures -- into law on Feb. 1.

Speaking to reporters after meeting with Habibie at the Merdeka Palace, Harmoko said the House and the government together appealed to the people, all the nation's sociopolitical forces and the political parties to support the June 7 election, so that it could proceed in a democratic fashion.

Harmoko said political parties contesting the election as well as other sociopolitical forces should work to ensure a safe, orderly and smooth general election.

The new laws would have to be disseminated, a task that would fall on the government, the House, the political parties and the various agencies set up to organize the election, he said.

In the latest consultation between the two, Harmoko was accompanied by his four deputies while Habibie was accompanied by eight members of his Cabinet.

When the three bills were endorsed by the House on Jan. 28, government officials said they would undergo a one-month period of public dissemination before Habibie signed them into law.

This was intended to give the more than 100 new political parties which were not represented in the House time to digest the contents, and raise objections and possibly demand revisions.

There was no official explanation of the sudden change of timing in signing the bills into law. In the past week, however, only a few of the new political parties have raised objections to the new laws. The National Mandate Party (PAN) under Muslim scholar Amien Rais dropped its demand for revisions and deemed the legislation was the best that could be expected given the circumstances.

A number of smaller political parties have asked the Indonesian Legal Aid Institute to file a judicial review petition with the Supreme Court to test the constitutionality of the laws.

This week, a team of 11 respected and nonpartisan public figures have been appointed by the government to help sift through all the new political parties to determine which ones are eligible to contest the election. The team has until the end of the month before its work of preparing the election is taken over by the General Elections Commission.

Harmoko also disclosed a very busy legislative agenda for the House in the coming months as it completes its term: more than 16 bills, all presented by the government.

Three bills were presented on Friday: on regional administrations, on prevention of corruption, collusion and nepotism in government, and on repealing the law on referenda to amend the constitution.

On Saturday, the government would present bills on repealing the subversion law, endorsing the UN Convention against Racialism and Discrimination and the UN Convention on Human Rights.

Other bills to be presented in the coming days and weeks include one on national security and defense, one on the allocation of resources between central and regional administrations, eight bills on implementing decrees enacted by the MPR in November, two bills endorsing the government's agreements with the International Monetary Fund, and bills regulating the oil and gas industry, and on the designation of Batam, Rempang and Galang islands in Riau province as economic zones. (emb/prb)