History repeated

History repeated

Politics is the art of possibility but in Indonesia it has
more often appeared as the agony of frustration.

The feeling is seemingly shared by most of the voters in last
year's general election, who pinned their hopes for political
reform on the changes promised by contestants from the two
official opposition parties.

Change was not expected from Golkar, the ruling faction.
Golkar believes that the general election is not an appropriate
forum in which to censure government performance. It sees the
election as a way of preserving the status quo, which is why the
system has hardly been modified since 1971, when polls were first
conducted by the New Order government. In the same period of
time, Indonesian collective consciousness has blossomed and the
electoral system cannot match the new aspirations now coursing
through society.

The people feel that the opposition parties have breached
their trust. Not only refusing to sponsor change, they have
rubbed salt in societies wounds by tamely echoing Golkar's
nominations for president and vice president.

The script for the five-yearly meeting of the People's
Consultative Assembly (MPR), which begins tomorrow, has already
been written, as it has been since 1971, allowing history to
repeat itself in a repulsive way.

When discussion of the General Session first surfaced among
scholars and political experts two years ago, the authorities
responded by saying such discussion was premature. Nobody need
worry about the forthcoming "feast of democracy", the country
"already had a system".

Many distinguished Indonesians have been keen to see Dr. Emil
Salim, a senior economist, nominated for the vice presidency.
Working from outside the system, it was no surprise that their
bid failed. Only the five MPR factions have the right to nominate
candidates for the republic's two top posts. Emil was not on any
of their lists.

Excluding a popular independent candidate from the elections
is not consistent with the MPRs constitutional position -- it is
the institutional embodiment of popular sovereignty. Efforts to
block the nomination of Emil, who has played an important role in
developing the country's economy from the beginning of the New
Order, have been intensive, especially from the dominant Golkar
faction.

Alarmed by support for the economist, which includes some
Golkar activists, the faction has consolidated support for its
own chosen candidates by collecting signed statements of
allegiance from its members, denying them their constitutional
right to put forward their own candidates before the Assembly.

The constitution stipulates that the president and vice
president must be elected by majority votes. Every member of the
MPR has the right to exercise freedom of choice. No rule states
that either presidential or vice presidential candidates have to
be nominated by a certain faction in the house. Furthermore,
there is nothing to prevent an independent candidate from running
for the job.

History is repeating itself. Two decades ago, Dr. Ismail Suny,
a senior professor of constitutional law at the University of
Indonesia, warned the nation that popular sovereignty had fallen
into the hands of the MPR faction chairmen. MPR members had
become willing to passively accept instructions imposed from
above and had lost the courage to speak out of line, much less
nominate alternative candidates. On Emil's failure, the nation
should not be surprised.