Minister explains bill to reduce ABRI seats

Minister explains bill to reduce ABRI seats

JAKARTA (JP): The military might lose some seats in the House
of Representatives (DPR) but its socio-political role would
improve, Minister of Home Affairs Moch. Yogie S.M. said
yesterday.

The move to cut the representation of the Armed Forces (ABRI)
in the DPR from 100 to 75 seats would provide more room for the
establishment of a "government of the people", Yogie said.

The minister was speaking during a plenary session of the
House, chaired by Deputy House Speaker Soerjadi, deliberating the
government bill under which ABRI's numbers in the House would be
reduced.

Yogie was explaining the reasons behind the move, its possible
consequences for Indonesian politics and what needed to be done
to ensure the continuity of ABRI's political role.

He said ABRI's role in the DPR was by no means a "transient
necessity". It was necessary, he said, to safeguard democracy.

The military's presence in representative bodies "is an
inherent need of our democracy," Yogie said. "People who think
that the military presence in the DPR and the People's
Consultative Assembly (MPR) is obstructing democracy are entirely
mistaken."

"The military's presence is in fact a realization of a
democracy which is based on the state ideology Pancasila," he
said.

The Pancasila ideology consists of five principles: belief in
one God, national unity, humanitarianism, democracy through
consensus and social justice.

The government bill proposes a review of article 10 of the
1985 Law on the Structure and Composition of the House of
Representatives. Article 10 states that 400 of the House's seats
should be contested by the three existing political groups at the
general elections, while the other 100 seats are reserved for the
Armed Forces, whose members do not vote.

The 1985 Law is a revision of a 1969 Law on the DPR's
structure and composition, which provided for 75 DPR seats for
the military.

Yogie said that everyone, including military personnel, had
the right to be involved in various decision-making processes
which determine the governing activities in society.

Therefore, he said, the presence and participation of ABRI in
the DPR and MPR represented "the basic values (adhered to) by a
state which recognizes the principle of integralism as dictated
by Pancasila and the 1945 Constitution."

The number of seats in the DPR was important in guaranteeing
"the ability of ABRI to carry out its role as the dynamizer and
stabilizer" in society, Yogie said.

However, improvements in the domestic political situation had
reached a stage at which ABRI was encouraged to gradually change
its leadership roles and to take a backseat in society, he said.

The change, however, must not affect ABRI's roles in security
and defense, he said. "These roles as mandated in the 1982 law on
state security and defense should still be guaranteed", he said.

"This guarantee can only be given by the (high) quality of
ABRI, both individually and collectively, and the adequate number
of its personnel and its roles in the DPR," he said.

Government and House officials have said that the new bill
should be made law in time for the next general election in 1997.

With the cut in the number of ABRI representatives there will
be an extra 25 seats to be contested by the three political
organizations: Golkar, the United Development Party and the
Indonesian Democratic Party.

"This means the political organizations will have the
opportunity to increase their representation and fulfill the
wish of the people to have a government by the people, of the
people and for the people," Yogie said. (swe)