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)