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)