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