Political cooperation

Political cooperation

From Rakyat Merdeka

Indonesian Democratic Union Party (PUDI) chairman Sri Bintang
Pamungkas is still making an effort to be given a seat in the
House of Representatives, because there is still no sign his
party will win a seat in the House. So, Sri Bintang has proposed
that minor parties which fail to earn a seat in the House during
the elections should combine their votes at the national level.
This vote sharing would lead to the establishment of a separate
faction in the House through postelection "political
cooperation". So, this political cooperation differs from a
stembus akkoord, or an agreement to share leftover votes. A
stembus akkoord must have been made prior to the elections.

Well, it is all right for Sri Bintang to have this idea of
combining votes and establishing a separate faction in the House
after the elections. This political compromise is all right as
long as it is acceptable to everyone. However, even one of Sri
Bintang's fellow members on the General Elections Commission
(KPU), Djuhad Mahya of the United Development Party (PPP), does
not agree with the idea. As for myself, being a political layman,
I do not disagree with Sri Bintang, but I just cannot understand
the logic behind his idea.

Apart from differences of opinion about this idea in the KPU
itself, there are at least three issues which must be addressed
before the idea can be accepted. First, in the case of sharing
votes after the elections, Sri Bintang, as a member of the KPU,
violates the KPU's rules regulating stembus akkoord. Second, the
idea of sharing votes collected by various political parties with
different visions is not realistic, because doing so would mean
negating party platforms and going against party statutes. Third,
as the KPU is already structurally illegitimate, any loophole in
its operations can easily be exploited for the interest of a
certain party or group. This really makes the existence of the
commission tenuous, which is utterly intolerable.

At this juncture, allow me to call on Sri Bintang to take into
account the three issues referred to above before proceeding with
his initiative for the establishment of a House faction made up
of minor parties. Sri Bintang, I believe that even without being
a House member you can continue to fight for people's aspirations
in other, more respectable, ways. You have enough knowledge to
fight for the interests of the people.

SRI HARYANTI DEWI,

Jakarta