MPR set to elect president on Oct. 20

JAKARTA (JP): After months of uncertainty, Indonesians will know on Oct. 20 who will lead the country into the next millennium.

Members of the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) agreed on Saturday to bring forward the presidential election to Oct. 20, with the vice president to be elected and sworn in the following day before the General Session is officially closed.

Assembly members had been debating for two days on the timetable for the election. The most contentious point was whether the president would be elected before or after the State Policy Guidelines (GBHN) was drafted and endorsed.

A compromise was reached on Saturday with Assembly members agreeing to elect the president with only the "bare essentials" of the State Policy Guidelines, but also issuing two decrees which in effect would curb presidential power.

The schedule was endorsed at about 9 p.m. in a plenary session.

Golkar Party deputy chairman Marzuki Darusman confirmed that prior to the presidential election, the Assembly would endorse a decree limiting the president's power.

Another decree would "ensure the principle of checks and balances among the state's highest institutions," Marzuki told The Jakarta Post on Saturday.

"It is expected that these decrees will open a new era of democracy where the power will not only lie with the president," he said.

Marzuki's comment came amid mounting concerns that electing a president prior to the State Policy Guideline's formulation would be tantamount to giving full discretionary powers to the new government.

Chief of the Indonesian Military (TNI) faction at the MPR Lt. Gen. Hari Sabarno stressed on Saturday afternoon that a president would be elected only after the State Policy Guidelines were endorsed.

"The General Session has to run in an orderly manner. What sort of mandate will the president undertake in the absence of the State Policy Guidelines?" he said.

However he denied that an agreement had been reached on the date for the presidential election.

Definite schedule

"The definite schedule for the presidential election will depend very much on how things develop in the coming days. What we have agreed on is only to set a timetable which will include the date for the election," he said.

TNI Chief of Territorial Affairs Lt. Gen. Susilo Bambang Yudoyono shared his colleague's view.

"Logically the policy guidelines must be endorsed before the MPR seeks the person who is considered capable of carrying them out," he said at TNI Headquarters in Cilangkap, East Jakarta.

Based on the new schedule, the Assembly will convene until Monday to elect speakers of the Assembly and the House of Representatives, establish the Assembly's Working Committee, and endorse the Assembly's Internal Rules.

On Wednesday the Working Committee will begin to tackle its brief.

The committee will be divided into three teams: for the State Policy Guidelines; for non-State Guidelines' issues, in this case Assembly decrees; and for constitutional amendments.

The Assembly will reconvene on the evening of Oct. 14 to hear President B.J. Habibie's accountability speech.

The president will be elected and sworn in on Oct. 20.

Golkar Party chairman Akbar Tandjung noted that despite the General Session being broken down into two periods, Assembly members had agreed not to use the term "phases".

Dimyati Hartono of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan) said his party was satisfied with the schedule.

"It was PDI Perjuangan's proposal not to delay the General Session by having two phases, and to push for a quick presidential election, because our country is in need of a new government," he told the Post on Saturday evening.

"If there are whispers that this is a PDI Perjuangan move to spoil our political opponents' chances, that's simply their own personnel speculation," he added.

The party had objected to a schedule drafted by a team comprised of several political parties which called for the General Session to be held in two phases.

The first phase was slated to be held from Oct. 1 to Oct. 3, followed by an adjournment to allow for the Working Committee to draft the State Policy Guidelines. The Assembly was then to have reconvened from Oct. 22 to Oct. 28 to elect the president.

Yusuf Muhammad of the National Awakening Party (PKB) said that after a series of consultative meetings which began on Friday afternoon, all the groups and factions had agreed on the schedule under two strongly worded conditions.

First, was a mandate to restrict the president's power, and second, the requirement to empower the control mechanisms and the independency of judicial institutions.

"The guidelines will only consist of the main substance," said Yusuf, who was elected on Saturday as a spokesman for the consultative meeting.

He gave the analogy of the Assembly giving the elected president a pack of rice, with limited toppings, but adequate as a basic necessity.

He said other additional dishes, like fruits and desserts, would be discussed later, but not beyond Aug. 17, 2000.

Yusuf said that Constitutional amendments would be an inseparable part of the Assembly, with the Assembly speaker mandated to ensure the amendments were completed by Aug. 17, 2000. (amd/rms/byg/emf)