Learning from experience

Since the reform movement gained momentum, and especially since the nation began to ready itself for the Special Session of the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR), factions in the Assembly have been working hard to prepare arrangements and decrees that would truly be able to meet the basic precepts that are contained in the Constitution.

Those who hold the power of the state in their hands must be made accountable for their actions. In order to achieve this, that power must be effectively controlled. The executive, the judiciary and the legislative bodies should be made autonomous -- or indeed, independent -- from each other. An independent judiciary provides guarantees that justice and a sense of justice will prevail.

If the sovereignty of the people is to be established, the only way to do so is by holding a general election -- and not just the motions of a general election but a general election that is truly democratic and that meets all the substantial criteria of democracy throughout the entire process of its execution. For this reason, the general election law, the actual balloting and the system of supervision that is involved, must guarantee that the elections will truly be democratic.

-- Kompas, Jakarta