Political power must be limited: Soemitro

Political power must be limited: Soemitro

JAKARTA (JP): Unlimited political power will eventually lead
to despotism and therefore Indonesia needs a law to limit it, a
retired military leader here said this weekend.

Gen. (Ret) Soemitro, the former commander of the powerful
Kopkamtib security agency, told a seminar over the weekend that
there must be a law to limit the political power of the head of
state.

Speaking before the seminar, which discussed the 50 years
since Indonesia's independence, Soemitro said, "we must have a
law regulating the president's political authority in order to
avoid the development of absolute power."

The seminar, which was held at the housing complex for House
of Representatives members, was sponsored by the Jakarta chapter
of the Association of Indonesian Catholic Students.

Absolute power in Indonesia, he said, is also fueled by
vestiges of feudalism.

"In an absolute political system, a mistake is finally
accepted as truth and a crime as a virtue," Soemitro said.

He said the 1945 Constitution does not stipulate term limits
for the nation's president. "I do not blame the late president
Sukarno and the current President Soeharto for their unlimited
terms of office because it is our mistake that we don't have it
spelled out in the Constitution," he said.

Soemitro said that in order to prevent a president from
assuming absolute power, a checks and balances system is needed
between the president and other high-ranking institutions.

"A dominant power in the executive branch of the government
will lessen the role of the legislative and judicial powers,"
Soemitro said.

Speaking about the existence of the many laws which were
passed during emergency periods, Soemitro said they should be
revamped or revoked in accordance with the changing times.

He also said that political organizations today have hardly
any role in the development of the democratic system.

"The organizations have no means to control the president whom
they have elected," he said.

Meanwhile Brig. Gen. (ret.) Roekmini Koesoemo Astoeti, member
of National Commissions on Human Rights, criticized the political
life here, which, she said, is still far from what the people
have envisioned.

She also said that members of the ruling elite are still
reluctant to accept ideas of political reform.

"They are acting as both bureaucrats and political players,"
she said.

They prefer to maintain the status quo in order to prolong
their grip on power, she said. (imn)