Political analysts shun district electoral system
Political analysts shun district electoral system
JAKARTA (JP): Leading political analysts agreed yesterday that proportional representation is the best system for Indonesian elections.
Lt. Gen. (ret.) Harsudiono Hartas, a member of the Supreme Advisory Council, Matori Abdul Djalil, a legislator of the United Development Party (PPP), B.N. Marbun, a legislator of the Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI), and Maswadi Rauf, a political observer, all agreed that the proportional representation system is more appropriate than the first-past-the post system.
They did conclude however, during a one-day seminar on an Ideal Election System in Indonesia held by the Union of Indonesian Catholic Students, that the current proportional system does need to be implemented better.
Under a first-past-the post system, locally called the district system, each seat in the House of Representatives would have to be contested in every district, with voters electing their representatives rather than the political parties.
Under the existing proportional representation system, the people don't vote for individual candidates, but rather for one of the three parties. The seats in the House are then distributed according to the share of the total vote each has won.
The discussion was expected to help the Indonesian Institute of Sciences in its research of the best and most applicable electoral system for Indonesia.
President Soeharto asked the institute last month to study the possibility of changing the electoral system from the current proportional representation to a first-past-the-post system. Soeharto also asked the institute to review the methods by which Armed Forces officers in the House are appointed.
Soeharto made his request in response to public debate on the issue and because of charges that democracy in Indonesia is a sham.
The PDI and the PPP have called for a revamp of the electoral system but have refrained from endorsing the district system. They instead argue for the better supervision and administration of the general elections.
In the last election, Golkar won 68 percent of the votes, the PPP 17 percent and the PDI 15 percent. Four hundred of the 500 seats in the House were divided accordingly. The other 100 seats are reserved for ABRI, whose members do not vote.
Harsudiono Hartas said the advantage of the proportional representation system was that even the smallest party could be represented.
The district system is regionally oriented, though the selected representatives are more reliable in terms of the voters, he said.
Harsudiono, formerly chief of the armed forces' socio- political affairs, also said that the implementation of the proportional system costs less compared to the district system, which would have expensive election campaigns.
B.N. Marbun assured that there is no perfect election system in the world.
"The U.S., even though it declared independence more than 200 years ago, still has weaknesses in the implementation of its democracy," he asserted.
He said the best election system in Indonesia is the proportional system because it prevents conflicts between different religions, ethnic groups and interest groups.
Marbun, who is also a member of the National Commission on Human Rights, said that under the proportional system defeated political parties could still be represented in the House or the provincial legislative council.
He noted, however, that implementation of the proportional system should be reviewed so that elections will be conducted fairly.
Matori Abdul Djalil supports the proportional system but warned that the government should not side with any of the contesting parties.
He stressed the importance of all parties having representatives in the general election committee as witnesses.
Maswadi Rauf, who also supports the proportional system, listed the various negatives of the district system.
He argued that the district system allows the winner in an election to take it all with small parties getting no seats in the House.
"If the district system is adopted, Golkar will spare no seats for the PPP and the PDI because it has more followers and money than the other political parties," he explained.(imn)