Local reps, Interst Group: A tale of two factions
Fabiola Desy Unidjaja, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Legislators from the Regional Representatives faction hummed a happy tune on Friday after eventually winning back their faction status in the Assembly after two years of bitter struggle to retain it.
But the members from the Interest Group faction sung a different tune because their fate remained in a state of limbo.
The very presence of the members of the Interest Group faction at the 700-strong People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) remained in question, despite official endorsement in the Constitution. Their hope was that the Assembly would vote against amending the Constitution to push them out of the MPR completely.
The 65-member Interest Group faction, which consists of non- elected representatives from various professions, intellectual groups and religious organizations, did retain strong support from the 38-member Military/Police faction.
The Regional Representatives faction, however, have always had the backing of the Golkar Party, the MPR's second largest faction, because they were traditional allies in the New Order era that ended in 1999.
The former members of the Regional Representatives faction, who were spun-off to other political factions after it was liquidated in 1999, will now be free to return or to stay with their present factions.
The Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan) faction, which earlier opposed the reinstatement of the faction, finally expressed half-hearted support after an apparent deal was done with Golkar.
"Our main reason to finally agree is not because we want to use the issue to win the people's heart for our political interest, but simply to maintain cooperation among legislators," PDI Perjuangan faction spokesman I Dewa Gede Palguna said.
Part of the fight for reinstatement was the infamous jostling match at the opening of the Annual Session last week when some of the regional representatives stormed the podium demanding that the faction be revived right then and there.
Exactly half of the regional representatives (65) are also Golkar Party members.