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)