Parties urged to sue govt over new ruling

JAKARTA (JP): Constitutional law expert Harun Alrasid is urging new political parties to sue the government for issuing a decree on civil servants in violation of the law.

He said new parties, barred from the deliberation of recently endorsed political bills, should sue the government because the decree apparently violates the 1975 Law No. 3 which guarantees civil servants' rights to join political parties and Golkar without having to forfeit their positions in the bureaucracy.

"How could the government have done it?" he said to The Jakarta Post by telephone on Saturday. He was referring to the issuance last week of a government regulation, which has lower status than a law, to ensure civil servants' neutrality.

Established to resolve conflict among House factions deliberating the political bill, the regulation was also later condemned by minority United Development Party (PPP) for going against an earlier agreement.

The agreement was that PPP could have a neutral bureaucracy -- in the hope that Golkar would no longer be able to exploit it -- if it stopped opposing Golkar and the Armed Forces' motion to give the military 38 unelected House seats. As it turned out, the Armed Forces got its seats, but PPP did not get the decree it wanted.

Following the ensuing uproar, which threatened to jeopardize the endorsement of the political bills, the government promised to revise the decree.

New political parties had already criticized the bills and demanded that they be amended in order to ensure a fair and free general election in June.

Harun, a professor of law at the University of Indonesia, lashed out at the new regulation. "Its issuance was a lowly political trick that transpired between the government and factions in the House of Representatives to deceive other (new) parties and the people."

He accused the government and the House factions of dishonestly issuing and supporting a decree which stipulates that civil servants can temporarily join political parties while still receiving a salary during their leave of absence. Some officials have given contradicting statements, saying civil servants would not be paid during their leave, while the decree itself says they would be paid up to five years.

"It is strange and unusual that someone limits his/her membership in a political party for a certain or short period and that civil servants joining political parties will be paid without having to work," he said.

Revision

He urged the government to instead revise the 1974 law on civil servants to ensure their neutrality.

"If the government and the House are committed to maintaining civil servants' neutrality, they should amend portions in the 1974 Law No. 23 on reasons for civil servants to quit their jobs," he said.

Meanwhile, a number of lecturers of the Bandung Institute of Technology (ITB) resigned from Golkar in response to the issuance of the decree. They returned their Golkar membership cards to the party's West Java provincial chapter.

Djoko Santoso, an assistant to the institute's rector, also submitted an official letter of resignation to the provincial Golkar chapter chairman.

"With this letter and the new regulation, we declare our official resignation from Golkar and return our membership cards," he said while reading the letter before the provincial Golkar chapter on Friday.

Rector Liliek Hendrajaya said the move was meant to maintain the institute's independence so it could participate in monitoring the elections scheduled for June 7.

"It is a pivotal role the institute will play in its social and political contribution to the nation," he said.

In Jember, East Java, 29 civil servants resigned from their positions in the local Golkar chapter. The total number of chapter executives was 50.

In a related development, about 70 percent of Golkar's Central Sulawesi provincial chapter's functionaries will have to choose whether to continue in politics or resign from the bureaucracy.

The soon-to-be-revised decree allows civil servants to join political parties if they vacate their posts in the bureaucracy and report to their superiors within three months.

The provincial chapter will not hold an extraordinary meeting to elect new functionaries, according to Sahabuddin Mustapa, deputy chairman of Golkar's Central Sulawesi chapter, in Palu on Saturday.

Sahabuddin, also a deputy rector of the University of Tandaluko, said he was optimistic that despite the regulation, Golkar would remain the top choice for the majority of people in the province.

Meanwhile, about 30 civil servants who also were functionaries of Golkar's Bandarlampung, Lampung, branch said they had decided to quit their jobs in the local administration and maintain their party membership.

Indra Karyadi, the chairman of the local Golkar branch, said he would consult Golkar leaders on when would be an appropriate time for them to discard their bureaucracy uniforms. (43/rms)