Megawati asks for PDI legislators exclusion

Megawati asks for PDI legislators exclusion

JAKARTA (JP): Megawati Soekarnoputri asked the chief justice
yesterday to exclude 16 Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI)
representatives from being installed as legislators today.

In a statement sent to the mass media, Megawati, who was
ousted as PDI chairwoman, said induction of the party
representatives would tarnish the reputation of the People's
Consultative Assembly and the House of Representatives.

"We should avoid public opinion that discredits the
legislative bodies for unconstitutional and undemocratic
procedures," the statement says.

Chief Justice Sarwata is scheduled to swear in today 1,000
legislators in a ceremony attended by President Soeharto. The
legislators will serve until 2002.

Megawati was toppled in a government-backed, breakaway
congress in June last year. The congress reinstated Soerjadi as
the party's chairman. Megawati has been pursuing a legal battle
with her rivals.

The PDI obtained a record-low 11 House seats in the May 29
general election, down from the 56 it gained five years ago. It
received an additional five seats in the Assembly.

The party unveiled over the weekend its team lineup for the
Assembly's general session, headed by its secretary-general Buttu
Hutapea. It also named Budi Hardjono leader of its tiny faction
in the House.

Separately, the United Development Party (PPP) named yesterday
Jusuf Syakir as chair of the party faction in the Assembly and
maintained Hamzah Haz on top of its 89-strong faction in the
House.

Jusuf and Hamzah will also join the party's 12 representatives
in the Assembly working committee. The committee's main task is
preparing drafts of State Policy Guidelines and other
stipulations to be endorsed in March next year.

The PPP's lineup has only minor changes from that of 1992, but
the party chairman, Ismail Hasan Metareum, defended the lineup
yesterday.

"We need experienced people who match those on the other side,
in our bid to get our drafts accepted in the general session,"
Ismail said. He was referring to the dominant Golkar faction
which will parade 488 legislators, many of whom are from the
bureaucracy.

Meanwhile, political observer Nurcholish Madjid said it was
impossible to expect Assembly members to serve as "real"
representatives of the people because they only effectively met
once in five years.

"But we can still expect House members to perform the
legislative duties," he told reporters after addressing a
discussion, held at the Istiqlal Grand Mosque to commemorate the
country's fight against communism in 1965.

Nurcholish said House members should strive to be independent
despite their "closeness" to the government.

"They must maintain a distance from the government, so that
there is still enough room for them to criticize the President or
the government," said Nurcholish, who will end his term as
Assembly member today.

Another speaker at the discussion, Moslem scholar Amien Rais,
said the time had come for the House members to fulfill the
promises they made in the general election.

"They should thank the people who voted for them," said Amien,
who is the chairman of the 28-million strong Muhammadiyah Moslem
organization, after the discussion.

"House members should be more responsive to the people's
complaints about government policies," he said, adding that
people now prefer to lodge their complaints with other
institutions.

He said he was doubtful that House members would exercise
their right to initiate bills.

"I have never heard that they use their initiative right," he
said. (imn/amd)