Indonesia must make voting a tradition, scholar says

Indonesia must make voting a tradition, scholar says

JAKARTA (JP): Indonesia should make voting a tradition in
deciding some of the political issues, and not insist on
consensus all the time, according to a noted political scholar.

Prof. Dr. Miriam Budiardjo, in her latest book which came off
the presses yesterday, deplored the poor productivity of House of
Representatives which has created a condition where too many
issues are left unregulated, or managed by government officials'
decrees instead -- thus stretching the executive's span of
control.

In her book, Miriam suggests policy makers should be
encouraged to take decisions through the mechanism of voting,
something which has been considered as less than ideal compared
to the Indonesian principle of musyawarah mufakat or
"deliberation to reach consensus".

The application of voting by the DPR will give the Indonesian
democracy "a specific color," the expert in the social and
political sciences writes in her book Demokrasi di Indonesia:
Demokrasi Parlementer dan Demokrasi Pancasila (Democracy in
Indonesia: The Parliamentarian Democracy and the Pancasila
Democracy).

The book, along with another entitled Pembangunan Politik,
Situasi Global dan Hak Asasi di Indonesia (Political Development,
Global Situation and Human Rights in Indonesia), was launched
last night by its publisher, PT Gramedia Pustaka Utama, in honor
of Miriam's 70th birthday.

The second book, which is edited by Haris Munandar, is a
collection of essays written by 27 political analysts and other
intellectuals and is also in Miriam's honor.

The launching of both books at Bentara Budaya Jakarta was
attended by the creme de la creme of Indonesia's intelligentsia.

They include Taufik Abdullah, theologist Frans Magnis Suseno,
political analyst Juwono Sudarsono and former minister of
education Fuad Hassan.

Wife of Indonesia's first vice president, Rahmi Hatta, also
attended, as did Miriam's colleagues at the National Commission
for Human Rights, Roekmini Koesoemoastoeti and Albert Hasibuan.

Juwono said in his speech during the book launching ceremony
that the intellectual community, or those who were born and
raised in the "zone of peace and affluence", should dedicate the
greater part of their lives to help the unfortunate and those
still dwelling in the "zone of conflicts".

Born in 1923 in Kediri, East Java, into the family of Dr. KRT
Mohamad Saleh Mangoendiningrat, Miriam had models of high
achievement within her family.

Her eldest sister is Siti Wahyunah SH, better known as Poppy
Sjahrir -- the wife of Sutan Sjahrir, Indonesia's first prime
minister. The late Dr. Soedjatmoko, her elder brother, was an
intellectual with an international reputation and was once rector
of the University of the United Nations in Tokyo.

Miriam's younger brother, Nugroho Wisnumurti SH, LLM, is now
Indonesia's ambassador to the United Nations in New York.

Miriam has one daughter, Gitayana, and two grandchildren.

The wife of Ali Budiardjo (81), a former politician and
government official, Miriam's name will never be separated from
the development of political sciences here.

She is Indonesia's first political graduate and she helped
build the first school of political science at the University of
Indonesia.

After a five-year stint as a diplomat in New Delhi and
Washington (1948-1953), Miriam studied politics at Georgetown
University. She obtained her Master of Arts degree while working
as undersecretary of the Indonesian embassy in Washington, and
returned home in 1955.

From 1959 to 1961, she took a specialization in political
concepts in Harvard University. In 1962, she helped establish
Public Affairs Science Program (IPK) as part of the Law School at
the University of Indonesia in Jakarta, and became chair of the
political sciences program.

In 1968, the IPK was separated and became School of Social
Sciences (now it is called FISIP-UI, School of Social and
Political Sciences, University of Indonesia). She chaired the
political sciences program until 1973, and became dean from 1974
to 1979. She also became the coordinator of post graduate
political studies and chaired the social sciences consortium.

After dedicating 40 years of her life to education, she
retired in 1989. However, she still writes and teaches at the
Military Law School. (swe)