MPR Session doesn't help people

MPR Session doesn't help people

The pro and antiamendment (of the 1945 Constitution) movements, which have developed at the Senayan legislative complex in Jakarta, have spread to other towns.

A group of antiamendment demonstrators took to the street in the town of Cirebon, West Java, on Monday and blocked the Tegal- Jakarta segment of the northern coastal highway. The result was heavy traffic congestion for several hours.

Fortunately, the protest took place peacefully.

There is an anxiety among the people when such actions begin to spread elsewhere. The most affected by such actions will always be the average people.

Trouble will beget further troubles if the street protests are countered by an opposition group and physical encounters between the two groups are the usual result in this country.

We experienced this for hundreds of years and moreso since 1998. We can all remember the street brawls between two opposing groups at the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) after the 1999 general election and the street demonstrations opposing groups when the 2000-2001 Assembly's Annual Session. The latter was more peaceful.

The demonstrations during this year's Assembly session continue and serious violence is always just one provocation away. Representatives of the protesters were received by the Assembly members, and this has apparently tempered much of the tension which could lead to the mobs running amok.

These continuous waves of demonstrators have caused negative impacts, as many people have postponed trips to Jakarta before the Annual Session kicked off. This indicated people's fear and worry about mob politics, which could be more expensive than the result of the Assembly's session. Thus people should ask: "Is the Assembly's Annual Session really necessary?"

Members of the Assembly would -- of course say -- yes, because they use the forum for various maneuvers for the sake of their own or their political parties' interest. We might grieve the fact that Rp 19 billion (the cost of the Annual Session) could have been better used to help the poor. That huge amount of money could be useful to thousands of people.

Great and serious efforts to help people survive would be better than political arguments among the political elites in Senayan.

-- Suara Merdeka, Semarang