Parties seek closed presidential race

Parties seek closed presidential race

Kurniawan Hari, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The opportunity for Indonesians to vote for candidates of their
choice in the 2004 presidential election is under threat, as the
two largest factions in the House of Representatives have sought
to limit the number of parties participating in the election.

The Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan),
the largest faction, and Golkar, second-largest, have submitted
separately suggestions to the House special commission currently
deliberating the presidential elections bill.

PDI Perjuangan, headed by President Megawati Soekarnoputri,
has suggested that only parties and coalitions that garner 20
percent or more of legislature seats may field candidates in the
first-ever direct presidential election in 2004. If endorsed,
there will be five presidential candidates at the most in 2004.

Golkar, on the other hand, has proposed that only parties that
win 35 percent or more of legislature seats can nominate
candidates. This means there would be only two presidential
candidates contesting the election.

PDI Perjuangan has 153 seats, or almost 34 percent of the 500-
member House, while Golkar has 120, or 24 percent of House seats.
The TNI/police faction, which has 38 members, has thrown its
support behind PDI Perjuangan.

Other large political parties -- the National Awakening Party
(PKB), United Development Party (PPP) and National Mandate Party
(PAN) -- have also submitted suggestions and called for the
scrapping of any limitation.

The bill, drafted by the Ministry of Home Affairs, states that
only parties, or coalitions of parties, winning 20 percent of the
votes in the legislative election, should be allowed to run for
the presidency.

Some small political parties have opposed the limitation,
accusing PDI Perjuangan and Golkar of trying to strengthen their
grip on power by shutting out other political parties.

Agun Gunandjar Sudarsa of Golkar defended the limitation,
saying that the move did not necessarily amount to a restriction
on the rights of political parties.

Agun added that the stricter limitation would prompt political
parties to form coalitions.

The list of suggestions submitted by political parties also
deals with academic requirements for presidential candidates.

All but PDI Perjuangan proposed that presidential candidates
should be university graduates. PDI Perjuangan, on the other
hand, suggested that a senior high school graduate could run for
the country's top post. PDI Perjuangan chairwoman, Megawati, does
not have a university degree.

The Golkar faction, meanwhile, rejected a stipulation in the
bill that a criminal suspect or convict in a crime that carried a
jail sentence of more than five years should not be allowed to
contest the presidential election.

According to Golkar legislators, whose chairman Akbar Tandjung
was sentenced to three years in jail for corruption involving the
State Logistics Agency, banning such a person from being
nominated would contradict human rights principles.

Commenting on the wrangling, political analyst and expert
adviser to the home ministry Cecep Effendi said on Friday that
there was nothing wrong with the arguments of House factions.

"Political parties are formed to accommodate the aspirations
of their supporters. It is normal for those factions to fight for
their interests," Cecep said at a discussion here on Friday.

Although Cecep did not see the contention as a serious
problem, leaders of House factions denied that they were merely
fighting for their own vested interests.

Zaenal Arifin, of PDI Perjuangan, acknowledged that party
interests from each faction were expressed during deliberations
on the presidential elections bill. "That was inevitable," Zaenal
added.