Multiparty system not realistic for RI, Soeharto says

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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