MPR set to elect president on Oct. 20
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)