PDI and PPP still insist on election reforms

JAKARTA (JP): Both minority parties PPP and PDI renewed their demand for changes in the election system as the House of Representatives discussed a bill on the reduction of the number of House seats allocated to the military.

Subagyo, of the Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI), during a hearing to discuss the bill, said that the bill, which his party would gladly support, is the least urgent matter in Indonesia's political system.

He underlined that the five-yearly Guidelines of State Policy drawn up in 1993 clearly states the need to revamp the political system in Indonesia to improve democracy.

Citing the guidelines, he said Indonesia needs to initiate "political reforms aimed at increasing the function of the country's political infrastructure and superstructure...and the need to maximize the role of political organizations that participate in the general elections, in planning, executing and controlling the elections from the highest to the lowest levels".

"The elements which are clearly stipulated in the guidelines have never been realized nor conducted (by the government). Instead other elements, which are not fixed by the guidelines, are carried out, as if they are the most urgent problems to solve," he said.

"We will tirelessly appeal and fight for the reforms of the election system," he added.

The bill was reviewed yesterday during a hearing between the House's Commission II, which oversees domestic politics, and Minister of Home Affairs Moch. Yogie S.M.

Nadhier Muhammad, of the United Development Party (PPP), also used the occasion to restate his party's demand for a fairer election system.

"General elections are a means of political education for people. This cannot be accomplished optimally without increasing the role of the three political contestants in the elections," he said.

Nadhier added that in the elections, political groups should not be obsessed with winning for the sake of winning as many seats as possible, because elections should be based on the state ideology Pancasila.

The demands by PDI and PPP to expand the debate to include electoral reforms, however, failed to win support from Golkar, the dominant faction in the House, and the Armed Forces.

The bill, initiated by the government, seeks to amend article 10 of the 1985 Law on the Structure and Composition of the House of Representatives, which states that 400 of the House's seats should be contested by the three existing political groups at the general elections, while the remaining 100 seats are reserved for the Armed Forces, whose members do not vote.

The bill proposes to reduce the number of military seats to 75, leaving 425 seats that would be contested by the three political organizations.

There appeared to be no opposition to the proposal, with the Armed Forces already stating a willingness to reduce its representation in the House.

All factions in the House agreed that the bill could be enacted in time for the next general election in 1997.

The debate yesterday focused more on the wordings of the bill. (pwn)