MPR disposes of regional representatives faction

MPR disposes of regional representatives faction

JAKARTA (JP): The People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) decided
on Saturday night to dispose of the regional representatives
faction, and introduce the interest group faction instead.

The decision was taken in a vote, in which 379 out of 640
people attending were in favor.

Based on the vote, Assembly factions will now comprise of
political parties, the military and interest group.

There was repeated confusion over the voting procedure as the
total vote count did not match the number of attending Assembly
members.

The voting had to be repeated twice, following a flurry of
interruptions.

Even during the second vote the total number of votes were
short by two votes compared to the reported number of Assembly
members attending.

During the session which went beyond midnight, Assembly
members were also due to vote on the composition of the Assembly
leadership.

The race for the Assembly chairmanship position was thrown
wide open on Saturday after major political groupings nominated
their chiefs for the post.

Standing between red hot favorite Muslim leader Abdurrahman
Wahid and the Assembly post will be Akbar Tandjung of the Golkar
Party, Matori Abdul Djalil of the National Awakening Party (PKB),
Hamzah Haz of the United Development Party (PPP) and Lt. Gen.
Hari Sabarno of the Indonesian Military (TNI).

The election is scheduled for Sunday. A member of the special
team assigned to deliberate the MPR internal ruling, Soenarko,
said all 11 representatives of the political groupings
unanimously agreed to the mechanism of the election.

Soenarko said they also agreed that losers in the vote would
be given posts as MPR deputy chairpersons.

PKB secretary-general Muhaimin Iskandar said his party was
almost certain of appointing Abdurrahman, widely known as Gus
Dur, to the top MPR job.

"Our political stand is clear: that we will support Megawati
Soekarnoputri's nomination for the presidency and Gus Dur for the
MPR's number 1 position," he said.

Megawati's party, the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle
(PDI Perjuangan), has also nominated Abdurrahman, who is the
PKB's founder, although it also selected Matori as an alternative
candidate.

Muhaimin said Abdurrahman deserved the position, not only
because of his role in the PKB, but also because of his charisma.
Abdurrahman also chairs the country's largest Muslim
organization, the Nadhlatul Ulama.

"He is an acceptable figure, and quite close to the political
elite and to the people," he said.

Muhaimin however said PKB would also back its chairman,
Matori, if the alliance of nine Muslim-based parties known as the
"axis force" maintained its support for Abdurrahman's
presidential bid.

Khofifah Indar Parawansa, another PKB legislator, said her
party was lobbying other parties to win support for its two
candidates.

Ekky Syahruddin of Golkar said his party's nomination of Akbar
for the Assembly leadership was almost certain.

"No official nomination has been made, but everybody has Akbar
on their minds. You can prove it in the election tonight or
Sunday," he told The Jakarta Post in a break at the MPR General
Session.

Ekky said during a recent informal meeting that Golkar
functionaries had agreed that Akbar was the only party member
eligible for the position.

"In addition to his current position in the party, Akbar has a
good personality. He is bound to Javanese norms more so than
Javanese, and is mature in politics," he said.

PPP deputy chairman Zarkasih Nur said his party had decided to
nominate Hamzah Haz for the MPR chairmanship.

"We PPP legislators met on Friday and decided to nominate
Hamzah and seek support for his nomination from other parties,
especially Muslim ones," he said.

Maj. Gen. Budi Santoso, a TNI representative in the Assembly,
said Hari Sabarno was named for the MPR top position because he
was the most senior TNI representative in the Assembly. (rms)