Political bills come under fire again

Political bills come under fire again

JAKARTA (JP): Two new political parties fiercely criticized on
Tuesday the government-sponsored political bills for seeking to
furnish the Armed Forces (ABRI) with too much power.

In a public hearing with the dominant Golkar House faction,
representatives of the National Mandate Party (PAN) and the
People's Sovereignty Party (Pilar) called on the legislative body
to drop the bills and draft new ones.

But the faction's political commission chairman, Abu Hasan
Sadzili, said it was unlikely the House could use its right to
initiate bills at this time.

However, it would still be very possible for the House to
"introduce up to 70 percent changes" he said.

The hearing -- initiated by the faction to garner public input
before the deliberation of the bills starts next week -- was also
attended by representatives from the Indonesian Workers Party
(PPI) and the Indonesian Farmers Party (TANI).

The three bills are on political parties; general elections;
and the structure and function of the House of Representatives
(DPR), the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) and the
provincial legislatures.

Earlier, Pilar chairman R.O. Tambunan and PAN secretary-
general Faisal Basri highlighted various points which they
believed were the reasons why the bills should be dropped.

Faisal, for instance, said PAN believed that the Armed Forces
(ABRI) representatives in the People's Consultative Assembly
could be retained, but not their counterparts in the House.

Tambunan argued the Armed Forces should be removed from both
the Assembly and the House.

Faisal said: "There should not be any compromise, but of
course we'll think about what compensation could be given to
ABRI.

"It'd be understandable how ABRI (members) would feel if they
had to witness civilians 'enjoying so much corruption' while they
had to stay in the barracks."

He said ABRI personnel should be allowed to vote and be
elected, but before they could exercise their political rights
they would first have to leave the military.

"Just like civil servants, they must be free to exercise their
right to vote, but in order to be elected (to legislative seats)
they must first resign their status," he said.

Tambunan argued ABRI should not even be allocated seats in the
MPR.

Political parties will need to win 600,000 votes for every
seat in the House.

In the present bill, the 500,000-strong Armed Forces would be
given 55 House seats, down from the 75 seats in the current
House.

"For the sake of equality before the law, ABRI must not be
treated any differently from the rest of the country. So why the
privilege?" he said.

Tambunan said his party did not agree with the appointment of
ABRI members to the Assembly because they would only serve to
preserve the status quo.

Both Tambunan and Faisal warned the House against allowing
even "small mistakes" in their deliberations of the bills, given
the nation's effort to establish a "true reform order" was at
stake.

The Armed Forces has often argued that its presence in
politics is needed as both a "political stabilizer" and "security
watcher". Experts have said that the civilian forces'
inexperience in politics had justified the military's
intervention in politics.

The politicians also criticized the part of the bill on
political parties that covered funding.

Faisal -- supported by Tambunan and the representatives of the
other political parties present -- said limiting personal
donations to Rp 10 million (US$1,100) and organizational
contribution to Rp 50 million would only benefit Golkar, which he
said "was already rich".

"Rather than limiting the size of donations, it would be
better to impose a ceiling for campaign funds, so electioneering
could be conducted without money politics playing too dominant a
role," he said.

Faisal said his party called for the elections to be organized
by an independent electoral committee, not the government. The
electoral committee should be headed by an individual known to
have integrity, such as former Jakarta governor Lt. Gen. (ret)
Ali Sadikin.

"The committee should not be responsible to the president, but
to the House," added Faisal's colleague Santosa.

Tambunan suggested that the bill on political parties should
no longer prevent political parties from establishing branches in
villages, a policy known as the floating mass policy of the New
Order regime of Soeharto, that he said was still retained in the
current bill.

"Scrap the policy altogether," he said. (aan)