PAN urges quick creation of new election policies

PAN urges quick creation of new election policies

JAKARTA (JP): The National Mandate Party (PAN) demanded on
Sunday that President B.J. Habibie's administration and the House
of Representatives complete the country's new election rules as
soon as possible.

Any delay in producing the election's game rules, according to
party chairman Amien Rais, would only cause further political
uncertainty and destructive protests, and indicate that Habibie
was "buying time" to consolidate power.

"It must be done quickly. There mustn't be any delay," he said
in a media briefing following the party's first executive
meeting. He vowed to join forces with leaders of other existing
political parties and social groups to press the government and
legislature "again, again and again" to come up with good
political laws.

"We'll keep pushing and set an immediate deadline if
necessary," said Amien, the former chairman of the influential
28-million-strong Muhammadiyah modernist Moslem organization.

The government has drafted new laws on elections, on political
parties, and on the structure and powers of the People's
Consultative Assembly (MPR) and provincial legislatures.

The country's politics is currently governed by a
controversial set of five political laws used effectively by
former president Soeharto's regime to remain in power for 32
years.

Habibie's administration appointed a seven-member team of
experts to draw up the new laws. The documents were supposed to
have been submitted to the House for deliberation last month, but
are in fact still with the State Secretariat. There has been no
official word explaining the delay.

Habibie announced soon after his rise to the presidency that a
general election would be held in May 1999.

Asked if he would boycott the elections should the upcoming
laws turn out to be "undemocratic", Amien said: "It's still too
early to say."

Amien also spoke of the party's agenda for reform. In
politics, for instance, he called for the Armed Forces (ABRI) to
be "proportionally" represented only in the MPR instead of also
in the House as is the case now.

The draft for the new law reportedly reduces ABRI's House
representation from 75 seats to 55 seats.

"On ABRI's dual function (that justifies the military's active
role in politics), we want ABRI to really go for true internal
reform... that its functions are restricted to only being the
state's security force, especially against external threats," he
said.

Active military officials must not occupy executive or
bureaucratic posts, Amien added.

However, as citizens, ABRI members "may vote" in the
elections. Retired ABRI members should be treated as regular
citizens, he said.

The party also said it would push for a separation of the
national police force from the Armed Forces. "The police should
be enforcers of social order, independent from ABRI
intervention," Amien said. (aan)