Multiparty system not realistic for RI, Soeharto says

JAKARTA (JP): The demand for a multiparty political system is unrealistic and will unravel all the hard work that has gone into building the present system, President Soeharto said yesterday.

The system in which three political organizations contest the general election every five years has evolved over 20 years through a long and painful consensus-building process, he said.

"It would be impossible to add another party," Soeharto said during a meeting with around 200 university graduates recruited as volunteers to monitor the government's backward villages aid program.

"Those who insist on a multiparty system similar to what they have abroad, or the one we had a long time ago, are automatically asking that we repeal the five political laws that we enacted by consensus. This will be a set back.

"This is clearly unrealistic if we look at the history of this country in the last 20 years and at the way we have upheld the law and implemented the Pancasila ideology and the 1945 Constitution," said the President, speaking without a text.

Five legislations, first enacted in 1975 and improved in 1985, underpin the current political system in Indonesia. The laws limit the number of political organizations allowed to contest the election to three, and regulate the election campaign and the number of seats in the House of Representatives.

The legislations require that all social and political organizations adhere to Pancasila as their state ideology.

The President said he was personally involved in simplifying the number of political parties, from the nine that took part in the 1971 election, to two: the United Development Party (PPP) and the Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI).

He offered the nine the opportunity to join one of the two parties: PPP, which put more emphasis on spiritual development than material development, or PDI, which emphasized material development over spiritual. All the Islamic parties joined the PPP, while nationalists and Christian parties joined the PDI, he said.

"So that was the consensus then, we had two parties," he said.

"Then, where did Golkar stand on all this? Golkar has always strove for a balance between material and spiritual development. It never considered one more important than the other," said the President, who is also the patron of the ruling political group.

"This was accepted, and so we had three political forces," he said.

ABRI

"And where did the Armed Forces (ABRI) stand?

"Since it was recognized that ABRI is also a sociopolitical force, the military has an interest in ensuring the continuity of national development. ABRI is seen as a stabilizing and driving force for the nation," said the former Army general.

"There were questions then whether ABRI should take part in general elections or not. I said then that it was up to the people. But I warned that ABRI would win the elections outright because it was the most well organized force.

"So, it was eventually agreed that ABRI's role in politics was recognized, but that it would not take part in elections.

"This is the consensus," Soeharto said.

President Soeharto said the current system has produced a stable mechanism for national leadership elections.

"This system has ensured six stable administrations, each one governing for five uninterrupted years," he said.

"Why would anyone fail to see (the benefit) of this, and want to revert back to the multiparty system or move to a liberal and irresponsible system?

"This, in my opinion is a setback. We will return to chaos, to a time when there was no guarantee of political stability or national stability," he said, referring to the 1950s when Indonesia, under a multiparty system, had several different parliamentary governments. (emb)

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