House Speaker calls for gradual political reform

JAKARTA (JP): House Speaker Wahono ended his five-year term yesterday with a fresh call for immediate political reforms to curb radicalism.

Addressing the House of Representatives' last plenary session, Wahono said political measures taken by the government in the past were no longer relevant in the wake of growing public demands and complicated future challenges.

"Current political management was applicable in the past when our country was in a state of emergency.

"But now it is prone to being counterproductive," he said.

A new 500-strong House will be installed on Oct. 1.

While Wahono's political future remains uncertain, the speaker position is likely to go to Golkar chairman Harmoko.

Wahono, a retired Army lieutenant-general and former Golkar chairman, said political reforms should be conducted gradually without sacrificing the nation's political stability, the 1945 Constitution and the state ideology Pancasila.

"Our commitment to renew political management and its operational directives will eliminate radical ways people or groups may resort to in trying to articulate their views and interests," he said.

He called on the public to be aware of their rights and obligations when it came to channeling their aspirations.

"They must straightforward in expressing their demands and present them with logical arguments and channel them through existing political channels, without violating (political) etiquette," he said.

Wahono said political reforms favoring public aspirations would eventually find justification as political development in the country had always brought surprises.

A good example of the unpredictability, he said, was the cabinet reshuffle in May.

President Soeharto named former Army chief of staff R. Hartono as Minister of Information in place of Harmoko who assumed a new ministerial post as State Minister of Special Assignments.

Wahono also asked incoming House members to listen more to people they were representing in exchange for their support in general elections.

Addressing current House members, he praised them for completing all deliberation of bills on time.

During its five-year sitting, the House passed 73 government- sponsored bills.

He also criticized the government's decision to present the broadcasting bill a second time after it was already endorsed by the House, saying that the practice was "unusual".

Next time, each party must look into the substance of proposed legislation more thoroughly to avoid having to deliberate bills twice he said.

The broadcasting bill, submitted in March last year, was endorsed in December. In July, the government sent the bill back to the House, which duly deliberated and endorsed it on Thursday.

Earlier yesterday the House passed a new set of internal rules in place of old ones endorsed in 1983. The new rules suggest a cut of House commissions from 11 to eight to avoid procedural problems in any decision-making processes due to the under- represented Indonesian Democratic Party.

The party only won 11 House seats in the May 29 general election, making it impossible to field representatives in all 11 House commissions. (amd)