Legislators vow to cut ABRI's DPR seats

Legislators vow to cut ABRI's DPR seats

JAKARTA (JP): Legislators vowed on Wednesday to fight to
reduce the number of unelected seats allocated to the powerful
Armed Forces (ABRI) in the House of Representatives (DPR).

Under the terms of the government-sponsored draft law on
general elections, the military will be allocated 55 of the 550
seats in the House on an unelected basis.

However, Golkar's Abu Hasan Sazili said his faction would
offer the Armed Forces 25 seats, while Zarkasih Nur from the
minority United Development Party (PPP) faction said 15 would be
sufficient.

The Moslem-based PPP was the only faction that opposed the
allocation of unelected seats to the military in last week's
Special Session of the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR). It
argued that only elected representatives of the people should be
allowed to sit in the House.

However, it failed in its bid to have the military expelled
from the country's legislatures, losing a vote on the matter in
which the four other factions in the Assembly -- ABRI, Golkar,
the regional representatives and the Indonesian Democratic Party
(PDI) -- supported a continued military involvement in politics.

Article 6 of the resulting MPR Decree No. 14/MPR/1998
stipulates that the House and the regional legislatures (DPRD)
shall comprise of elected members of political parties and hand-
picked members of the Armed Forces. The Decree also states that
the number of seats allocated to the military will be reduced
"gradually and will be further regulated by law".

Zarkasih said 15 seats should do for ABRI under the present
circumstances, arguing that number would: "... match the number
of military commands it has across the country".

He branded as irrelevant Golkar's argument that ABRI should be
given 25 seats, a number based on the minimum 5 percent of seats
that a political party must win in the upcoming election in order
to qualify for the following general election in five years time.

"ABRI is not a political party, is it?" Zarkasih said.

Sazili had earlier used the "5 percent argument" to support
his faction's proposal to offer the Armed Forces 25 seats in the
House.

Both were speaking about the three political bills which the
DPR resumed deliberating on Wednesday. The bills will be further
deliberated with the government in an open session scheduled for
Nov. 23.

The unelected seats allocated to the Armed Forces have been
the frequent target of student-led public protests since the
downfall of former president Soeharto in May this year, among
them demonstrations leading up to last week's clashes in Jakarta
that left 15 people dead.

There has been growing public pressure for the Armed Forces to
leave politics altogether, but the military has insisted any such
withdrawal must take place gradually.

Both Sazili and Zarkasih are members of the 83-strong House
Special Committee (Pansus) set up to deliberate the political
bills. The bills cover general elections; the structure and
function of the DPR, the provincial legislatures (DPRD) and the
People's Consultative Assembly (MPR); and political parties.

The legislators will have 27 working days to complete their
deliberations and the bills are expected to be passed on Jan. 28,
according to Sazili, who chairs the special committee.

"We'll work day and night," Sazili said.

The government-sponsored bill on the structure and function of
the country's legislatures entitles the Armed Forces to 55
unelected seats in a proposed 550-seat DPR. The military would
also receive the same number of seats in a scaled down MPR with
700 seats. The MPR currently has 1,000 seats.

When asked by journalists, Zarkasih and Sazili said they would
propose a slightly smaller DPR comprising of 500 members, with
the Assembly retaining the 700 seats outlined in the bill.

Under the proposed bill, the MPR will embody the 550 members
of the DPR, 81 regional representatives and 69 representatives of
professional groups.

On the bill on general elections, both Zarkasih and Sazili
said the factions had agreed to alter the proposed combination of
district and proportional representation to an improved system of
proportional representation.

"It is to accommodate the aspirations of the new political
parties," Zarkasih said.

Both Zarkasih and Sazili also said the factions would propose
that foreign observers be allowed to monitor the general election
scheduled for May or June next year. (aan)