People's trust must be earned

Some recent media reports have emphasized the possibility that Megawati Soekarnoputri supporters will react angrily if she is not made president. However, a larger issue is that of the credibility which the next government will have in handling unemployment, land disputes, labor disputes, separation, ethnic tensions and so on.

Two years ago there was an economic crisis and anger with Soeharto, but this need not have led to violence. It led to violence because there were no institutions or mechanisms able to bring about change according to the people's will. Building credible institutions is the main agenda of reform. Since then, there has been one mechanism of change, the election and its results are more credible than those of the last election. But it does not follow that the next House of Representatives and the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) will automatically be more credible, for two reasons.

First, the way of translating votes into power benefits party leaders and the incumbent government rather than the voters. It may prevent change even when the call for change from electors is obvious.

Second, the new MPR members have yet to prove that they are any better than the last lot. They cannot take the people's trust for granted. They have to earn it.

They can do this if they overcome the weaknesses of the system that frustrate the people's will. They can earn trust if they vote openly and account for their choices to the people they represent. They will earn trust if the bank accounts, business interests and other assets of all MPR members, Cabinet ministers and elections commission members are audited and the results made public. They need to prove that they are respecting the people and not trying to deceive them.

JOHN HARGREAVES

Jakarta