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)