Plan to revive faction at MPR hampered
Plan to revive faction at MPR hampered
Kurniawan Hari, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Negotiations to reinstate the Regional Representatives Faction
(FUD) at the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) have made
little progress mainly due to the fact that only 73 out of the
130 regional representatives fully support it at this time.
The slower-than-expected progress of the revival of the
faction became evident in a meeting of the Ad-Hoc II Committee on
Thursday.
The meeting revealed that most members of the committee want
all the regional representatives to unite in support of the
renewal of the faction.
"If this condition is fulfilled, we will also support the
proposal for the revival of the faction. We don't want to see the
creation of dual factions," spokesman of the Interest Group
faction at the MPR Hamim Thohari said on Thursday, referring to
the possibility of the creation of two possibly competing
factions if the 130 regional representatives were not united.
Hamim urged the 73 regional representatives who supported the
revival of the faction to be patient because the proposal still
needed further evaluation.
The assembly currently comprises 500 members of the House of
Representatives, 130 regional representatives and 70 personnel
from various interest groups. With the dissolution of FUD in
1999, the 130 representatives have joined a faction representing
their political party.
All factions at the assembly expressed their support last year
for the revival of FUD in a bid to help boost the effectiveness
in accommodating the will of the people from remote areas.
Their support manifest itself in Decree No. II/2000 at the
MPR. According to the decree, the FUD faction was expected to
have been revived during the MPR annual session in 2000.
At Thursday's meeting, however, representatives of the
factions required claimed they needed to do more research in
anticipation of any impacts that may occur should the Regional
Representatives Faction be revived.
Golkar's spokeswoman Komariah Kuncoro said all 130 regional
representatives would need to be part of the faction, otherwise
there would be no resurrection of the FUD.
Vincent Radja of the United Indonesian Nation (KKI) faction
emphasized the importance of reviving the FUD, claiming that at
least 107 representatives had shown their support.
"The show must go on... the faction must be revived in the
annual session next month in order to accommodate regional
representation," Vincent said.
Mardiono from the Indonesian Military (TNI)/Police faction
said the establishment of the faction was needed both to help
accommodate aspirations and to maintain national unity.
"Should the regional representatives faction be revived, it
must fight for the interests of all regional areas," he added.