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