More urgent matters than dual roles

Our suspicion was right. Most people do not care about the dual roles of political party leaders who concurrently hold positions as president, vice president, speakers of the Assembly and the House as well as ministers.

The results of an opinion poll conducted by Kompas released on Monday do not indicate a significant difference between those for and those against it.

It would be more appropriate if such dual roles were eliminated in the future, say after a couple of general elections.

Political parties in a democratic system have been established only recently. Several new parties participated in the last general election for the very first time.

Just like the general condition of society, the political parties are in a muddled state. Probably only the Justice Party is solid, while the rest are being torn apart.

The latest party to contract such symptoms is the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle.

We are of the opinion that if Megawati Soekarnoputri were to leave her post as chairwoman, the party would be further fractured.

Nowadays politicians are busy only when there is an opportunity for a position either in the central or regional administrations. It seems that power is foremost on their minds.

This unpraiseworthy, self-centered attitude further worsens their image, depicting them as insensitive to the interests of the people.

However, the question is whether the next general election will change radically. Will uncaring parties be abandoned by voters? Will money politics cease to exist? Will it be a clean contest of the visions and programs of each political party?

But this is not in contrary to the needs of good party members, who should realize that their place is not only in the party but, more importantly, among the people.

This is what is more urgent today for the existence of political parties, not the matter of dual roles.

Indeed the dual roles should be supervised and effectively controlled so that they do not create collusion and abuse of power.

-- Kompas, Jakarta