KPU to decide on interest groups' representatives in Assembly
KPU to decide on interest groups' representatives in Assembly
JAKARTA (JP): The General Elections Commission (KPU) is
working on the criteria for which interest groups will be given
65 unelected seats in the People's Consultative Assembly and take
part in the presidential election in November, an official said.
Harun Alrasid said here on Monday the seats in the Assembly
would be given to representatives of groups whose interests were
not accommodated by existing political parties. He cited
intellectuals and the Badui tribespeople in remote areas of Lebak
regency, West Java.
"They should be represented in the Assembly," he said.
The Assembly's 700 members will comprise 500 members of the
House of Representatives, 135 regional representatives and 65
representatives from interest groups.
Politician Sri Bintang Pamungkas, airing the view of smaller
political parties, urged the elections commission on Monday to
phase out interest groups from the Assembly and add more House
seats to be contested in the next elections.
"Those people (interest groups) could channel their interests
through the existing political parties," Bintang, who is also a
member of the KPU, said.
Harun dismissed Bintang's call as unconstitutional, saying the
interests groups were guaranteed seats in the Assembly by the
1945 Constitution.
The Constitution should be amended if the majority of people
want to phase out the interest groups, Harun, the Muslim People
Party's representative on the elections commission and a
constitutional law expert, said.
Nurcholish Madjid, a Muslim intellectual, also has recently
called for the Constitution to be amended because it is no longer
compatible with the present situation.
Meanwhile, KPU chairman Rudini said the elections commission
was mulling whether to allow Minister/State Secretary Akbar
Tandjung and State Minister for Investment Hamzah Haz campaign
for their parties.
Akbar is chairman of the Golkar Party while Hamzah chairs the
United Development Party (PPP).
"They may be allowed to campaign, but the government should
appoint ad interim ministers in their place," Rudini said on
Monday.
The elections commission has barred all government officials,
including ministers, from campaigning in the general election.
However, Rudini said the idea of allowing the two ministers to
campaign was just a possibility which the commission had yet to
decide on. For the time being, the existing rules stand, he said.
"If a party breaches the rules by fielding ministers during
campaigning, the campaign rally (in which the ministers are
participating) could be dispersed. For more serious violations, a
party could lose its campaigning rights in the area where the
incident took place and the hardest sanction is for the party to
be disqualified from campaigning," he said. (rms/edt)