MPR urged to drop decree on military presence in House

MPR urged to drop decree on military presence in House

JAKARTA (JP): Political expert Harry Tjan Silalahi has urged
the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR), when it holds its
Special Session on Nov. 10 through Nov. 13, to drop a draft
decree that seeks to retain the military's presence in the
legislature.

Harry argued on Sunday that the issue, while it could be
deliberated now, should be left for the next MPR to discuss. A
new MPR will be established after next May's general election.
Otherwise, Harry said, the question of the Armed Forces' (ABRI)
presence in the House of Representatives would become just
another "political commodity".

According to the senior political scientist at the Centre for
Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), the issue should not
"become too much of a problem of the present".

"This is a transitional time after all," he said.

The House has been deliberating three political bills which
include a stipulation that the Armed Forces be allotted 55 seats
in the new 550-strong House of Representatives and the 700-member
People's Consultative Assembly. The House will continue
deliberating the bills after the completion of the Assembly's
Special Session.

Critics, however, have pointed out that it might be pointless
for the House to discuss whether or not the Armed Forces should
be retained in the legislative body because the Assembly itself
was planning to discuss the issue in its Special Session.

If passed, the draft decree guaranteeing House seats to the
Armed Forces would be superior to all political bills.

The draft is one of 12 Assembly draft decrees -- plus one on
the MPR's draft decision on the session's schedule -- planned to
be passed in the Special Session.

The draft's Article I (6) stipulates: "Members of the Republic
of Indonesia's House (DPR) and provincial legislature (DPRD)
comprise members of political parties contesting the elections
and subsequently are elected, and ABRI soldiers who are
appointed."

In another section, the decree says that the Armed Forces
stabilizes and lends dynamics to the implementation of Pancasila
democracy, and that its members do not vote in elections; they
are represented in the House/Assembly by appointment instead.

Respected social observer Y.B. Mangunwijaya -- who is also a
priest and famed critic-cum-novelist -- said he was just
"uninterested" in the matter.

"From the very beginning I never trusted the current
Assembly ... the people in it are still elements of Soeharto's
New Order regime," he told The Jakarta Post by phone from
Yogyakarta on Sunday.

Whether or not the Armed Forces should be maintained in the
legislature should be decided by a "Konstituante" -- a council
which he said should comprise reform-minded people trusted by the
people.

"Not the present MPR, not the one elected in the next
election ... a real election should not be held by the present
government," he said, adding that it was the proposed council
that should organize the elections.

Harry suggested that a political compromise be sought, such as
through "a gentlemen's agreement" that the Armed Forces be given
the right to be part of the executive power -- such as by giving
the ABRI commander a ministerial post.

Meanwhile, in the West Java capital of Bandung, politician Sri
Bintang Pamungkas of the Indonesian Democratic Union Party (PUDI)
said his party and 13 other new parties would "boycott" the
Assembly's Special Session if it did not drop the draft decree on
military representation in the legislature.

Separately, Army Chief of Staff Gen. Subagyo H.S. insisted the
Armed Forces would never beg for seats in the House because it
would be against the very reason for its existence and struggle.

Antara quoted Subagyo as saying in Cilodong, West Java, on
Saturday: "We adhere to and agree to existing rules. This is not
a question of having our seats retained or not. As responsible
citizens, we need to think about our involvement in
democratization." (aan/43)