Megawati hopes to shelve direct presidential vote
Fabiola Desy Unidjaja and Kurniawan Hari, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
In a strong blow to constitutional reform, President Megawati Soekarnoputri revealed on Tuesday her desire of postponing direct presidential elections until 2009.
Megawati's new stance, revealed by the secretary-general of her Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan), will likely force the People's Consultative Assembly to find ways of delaying direct presidential elections as they are already part of the amended Constitution.
Megawati, as quoted by her secretary-general Soetjipto, claimed that the people were not ready to have a direct presidential election in 2004.
"The President questioned the country's readiness to have a direct presidential election in 2004, and suggested that it would be better to have it in 2009," Sutjipto said after a PDI Perjuangan meeting at Megawati's residence on Jl. Teuku Umar here on Tuesday.
According to Sutjipto, Megawati cited clashes among demonstrators, especially during Assembly annual sessions, as a sign of people's immaturity.
"If during the annual session they can fight with each other, what are they going to do during a direct presidential election?" he asked.
Her opinion goes totally against the results of a recent survey by Taylor Nelson Sofres Indonesia, which showed that 67 percent of the people said they were ready to have direct presidential elections.
Moreover, the amended Constitution gives the people the right to directly elect the president and vice president.
Sutjipto acknowledged that Megawati, the party's chairwoman, also told party officials to lobby other factions in the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) to support her proposal during the Assembly's annual session slated for August.
The Assembly is then likely to insert an additional article into the Constitution's transitory provisions to allow the postponement of direct presidential elections.
Responding to President's suggestion, Golkar deputy chairman Slamet Effendy Yusuf said his party would first look to see if the suggestion was in line with constitutional reform.
Slamet, deputy chairman of the Assembly's ad hoc committee for the amendment of the Constitution (PAH 1), said that although the amended Constitution already stipulated that the president and vice president should be directly elected by the people, it was still possible to postpone its implementation.
"We could insert a clause into the transitory provisions of the Constitution. Let's see what happens," Slamet added.
Slamet, nevertheless, refuted claims that the people were not ready for a direct presidential election system.
"It's the elite leaders who are not ready," Slamet told The Jakarta Post last night.
Asked whether Golkar backed Megawati's idea of delaying direct presidential elections until 2009, Slamet simply said that thus far his faction was of the opinion that a direct election should be held in 2004.
Golkar now apparently owes PDI Perjuangan a favor for the latter's abstention during the vote on the proposal to establish an inquiry commission to probe a Rp 40 billion (US$3.6 million) financial scandal at the State Logistics Agency (Bulog) involving Golkar chairman Akbar Tandjung.
Many critics have accused the two largest political parties, in collaboration with the military and the police, of attempting to subvert the reform movement through their moves.
Constitutional articles on presidential election
Article 6 of 1945 Constitution (original): President and Vice President are elected by the People's Consultative Assembly by majority vote.
Article 6 A of the third amendment: President and Vice President are elected on one ticket directly by the people.