House Speaker calls for gradual political reform

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)