LIPI researchers present alternative electoral system

JAKARTA (JP): Members of the government-run National Institute of Sciences (LIPI) gave their views to President B.J. Habibie yesterday about how to conduct next year's general election. They begged to differ on several points from the system being proposed by a team of the Ministry of Home Affairs commissioned to draft new electoral laws.

The most notable departure was on the position of the Armed Forces (ABRI) in the country's political system.

While the government's team drafting the electoral laws has proposed a cut in the number of seats in the House of Representatives allocated to ABRI from 75 to 55, LIPI is proposing that ABRI's seats be eliminated altogether.

ABRI, they said, should only be represented at the People's Consultative Assembly and not at the House of Representatives (DPR) or regional legislative councils (DPRD).

All members of the DPR and DPRDs, they said, should be elected and not appointed.

Another major departure from the present system is their demand for the discontinuation of military screening for those running for seats in the House of Representatives.

"Any screening of candidates should be conducted by the political parties," LIPI chairman Sofyan Tsauri told reporters after the meeting with President Habibie at the Bina Graha presidential office.

Many young LIPI scientists broke ranks with the government in the last weeks of Soeharto's presidency, calling on the incumbent to step down. They have since maintained their distance with the new government.

LIPI said the DPR should consist of 500 elected members, including 54 representing the provinces. The MPR should consist of only 750 members instead of the present 1,000.

It said ABRI should be given 54 seats in MPR, and 142 other seats could be allocated to professional organizations, trade unions and social organizations. The remaining seats in the MPR should be decided by the general election.

While the government's team is advocating a combination of proportional representative system and first-past-the-post district system, LIPI said the general election should retain the present proportional representative system, albeit with an improvement in the way it is administered.

It proposed a minimum government role, as a facilitator and not as the one conducting the elections.

It said that only political parties that had opened 14 branch offices should be allowed to contest the election.

"Any citizen can run in the elections, including members of ABRI," political scientist Mochtar Pabotinggi, who accompanied Sofyan in the media briefing, said.

ABRI members or civil servants who run in elections must resign from their posts if they are elected, Mochtar said.

On the presidential election, LIPI said there should be more than one candidate, and that parties contesting the elections should present their candidates for the president and vice president as a single package.

The elected president and vice president must have their wealth audited before taking office and again after they step down, Sofyan said. (prb/emb)