MPR must honors people's trust

By Aleksius Jemadu

BANDUNG (JP): On March 1 the attention of all Indonesians will be focused on Senayan in Jakarta, where the 1000 members of the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) begin their quinqennial General Session.

Our 1945 Constitution enshrines the MPR as the highest state organ and the embodiment of popular sovereignty. It formulates the State Policy Guidelines then elects and empowers a president and vice president to carry out the new political mandate.

Controversial political debate rarely, if ever, takes place during the General Session. A draft of the State Policy Guidelines has been under discussion since last October in various MPR working committees. Drastic changes to this draft are very unlikely.

Regarding the leadership succession, all factions in the MPR -- Golkar, the Armed Forces, the regional representatives, the United Development Party (PPP), and the Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI) -- have nominated Soeharto and B.J. Habibie as their respective candidates for president and vice president.

Whether or not each member of the MPR is obliged to follow instructions issued by their respective factions when electing a president and vice president has been hotly contested. The crux of the matter regards who members of the MPR actually represent -- their factions or the people.

Irrespective of the fact that most critical decisions have been taken in advance of the gathering, the General Session still has value as an exercise in democracy. But it is of deep concern that individual members of the MPR have limited freedom to represent the political aspirations of ordinary people.

In his theory of the "iron law of oligarchy" Robert Michels argues that any political organization tends toward an oligarchy, or a grouping in which a small number exercise control. This is the result of an inevitable division between a minority of leaders and the supporting majority.

Decision making is controlled by the privileged top echelon of the organization. This can cause problems if a differences in opinion emerges between the elite and the rank and file.

Despite their apparently weak position, individual members of the MPR have a moral obligation to put voice to the political aspirations of those who elected them into office. Indonesians across the archipelago surely hope that their trust and support has not been in vain.

The success of the General Session will therefore be determined by the extent to which discussions and decisions take into account the political sentiment of ordinary society. If the Session only serves the interest of the political elite then it has failed in its constitutional task.

A concurrent desire for strong leadership in the future and a pressing necessity for economic and institutional reform has created an extraordinarily complicated national political situation in the run-up to the General Session.

As other crisis-ridden countries like South Korea, Malaysia, and Thailand have shown signs of moving toward recovery, Indonesia appears to be going nowhere.

In addition to every Indonesian, the IMF, World Bank, Asian Development Bank and a number of donor countries also have a high stake in the future political and economic situation in this country. These international organizations are concerned about the government's commitment to implementing the necessary reforms. Beneath their impeccable diplomacy, these organizations would surely be pleased to see a new leadership backed by a popular legitimacy emerge to lead the nation out of crisis. As a needy recipient of international assistance, Indonesia cannot ignore the demands of the international community.

The conclusion is therefore plain. Members of the MPR, as the embodiment of popular sovereignty, must put national interests above the partisan. Unfortunately, in the politics of many developing countries, promoting the common good for all is a utopia beyond reach for the majority of people. Let us hope and pray that in their imminent General Session all members of MPR uphold the people's trust so that popular sovereignty may one day become a reality.

The writer is head of the School of International Relations at UNPAR, Bandung. He is also a researcher with the Parahyangan Centre for International Studies (PACIS) at the same university.