Loopholes in draft law haunt 2004 elections
Annastashya Emmanuelle and Kurniawan Hari The Jakarta Post Jakarta
The election law revision drafted by the Ministry of Home Affairs has numerous loopholes that need to be closed to ensure fair elections in 2004 free of dispute, observers said on Thursday.
Legal observer Bambang Widjojanto said the draft did not contain clear rulings on disputes that could arise over registration, campaigning, funding and the actual process of the election.
Indeed, Bambang said, some articles in the draft revision contradicted the 1945 Constitution.
"The draft revision is worse than existing Law No. 2/1999 on elections, which is quite bad," Bambang said during a media workshop on the draft election law, organized by the Center for Electoral Reform (Cetro).
Separately, Minister of Home Affairs Hari Sabarno confirmed that the long-awaited draft revision on elections and political parties had been submitted to the House of Representatives on Wednesday for deliberation.
Hari said that another draft revision on the composition of the House, the People's Consultative Assembly and regional legislative councils was still being prepared.
The media workshop on Thursday focused on a number of different aspects of the elections, including the electoral system, the independence of the General Elections Commission (KPU), sources of campaign funding and the resolution of election disputes.
Bambang, Cetro executive director Smita Notosusanto and KPU member Chusnul Mar'iyah all voiced concern with the quality of the draft revision.
They also said they suspected there was an effort by the home affairs ministry to curb the independence of the elections commission.
As an example, they said, Paragraph E (5), Article 22 of the 1945 Constitution stipulates that general elections are to be organized by a national, permanent and independence general elections commission.
But Paragraph 8, Article 66 of the draft revision states that the working period for the KPU is five years from the time of its swearing in, and it is not allowed to sit for another term.
"This contradicts the Constitution, which says the KPU is a permanent body," said Chusnul, adding that this contradiction would hamper the performance of the commission.
The independence of the KPU also seems to be threatened by the home affairs ministry's decision to declare the commission a government institution, which would give the ministry control over the KPU secretariat.
The draft revision also says the KPU secretary-general and deputy secretary-general will be appointed and dismissed by the president, on the recommendation of the home affairs minister.
"The subordination of the KPU to the government will put the commission in a position of being easily controlled by the ruling political parties. The KPU will not be able to maintain its neutrality," Smita said.
At the provincial level, the draft revision says local elections committees will be established by governors and local legislative councils.