Poll schedule to be set at end of year

JAKARTA (JP): Speaker of the House of Representatives (DPR) Harmoko yesterday shot down hopes for snap elections, saying that an extraordinary session of the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) to set a poll date would not be held until the end of the year.

Harmoko said time was needed to review the country's five political laws, which include the electoral laws, before an election could be called.

"To set the schedule for a general election, an extraordinary session of the MPR is needed. This extraordinary session could be held at the end of 1998 or early in 1999," Harmoko said.

"Time would be needed to acquaint the public with the new electoral system and election participants based on the new election law," he added.

Harmoko spoke to journalists following a one-hour meeting with President B.J. Habibie at the House of Representatives building.

Since Soeharto's resignation, opposition leaders have been demanding that the Assembly hold an extraordinary session and that polls be quickly held to elect a new president and vice president.

There was clearly some discontent yesterday at the prospect of having to wait until next year for elections.

Leading opposition figure Amien Rais questioned the announcement and called on the Assembly to first clarify the objective of an extraordinary session.

"It would be too dangerous if an extraordinary session is meant merely to strengthen the status quo, set up by Pak Harto's cronies," said the chairman of the 28-million-strong Muhammadiyah Moslem organization.

He asserted that the session should be used only to revoke the 1998 MPR decree stipulating that the next poll would be held in 2002.

Amien said that during a meeting with Habibie over the weekend, the President had agreed to hold elections in six to 12 months.

Nurcholish Madjid also expressed some dissatisfaction, warning that a delay in setting the poll date would not boost international confidence in the current government.

"I think the most waited for thing is the time schedule, when precisely the polls will be held," he said after a meeting with International Monetary Fund (IMF) Asia-Pacific Director Hubert Neiss.

The meeting yesterday between House leaders and Habibie was held exactly one-week after Habibie was sworn in as President replacing Soeharto.

It was the first meeting Habibie held with House leaders since being sworn in.

Habibie was accompanied by his four coordinating ministers and Minister/State Secretary Akbar Tandjung, while Harmoko was flanked by his deputies Ismail Hasan Metareum of the United Development Party (PPP), Abdul Gafur of Golkar and Fatimah Achmad of the Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI). Also present were several faction leaders.

Harmoko said the House had formed a team, the Producers of National Legislation (Prolegnas), to review the five political laws -- which cover mass organizations, the role of the House and the Assembly, political parties, regional administrations and elections -- on which the current political system is based.

Harmoko said the team would work closely with the government to expedite the new laws so it could be ready before the MPR extraordinary session.

When reporters pressed him to disclose a more exact timeframe for elections, Harmoko replied that his meeting did not discuss a specific schedule, only means for "the acceleration of the new poll".

Harmoko also balked at suggestions that the MPR would accede to widely voiced demands that it also seek Soeharto's accountability.

The House speaker maintained that the session would only focus on election issues.

"The MPR agenda is to revoke, change and draw up several decrees related to the election," Harmoko said.

Officials initially indicated that Habibie himself would also address journalists along with Harmoko. However, the 80 journalists eagerly waiting near the main hall were disappointed when the President was quickly chauffeured away.

"The plan was canceled merely for protocol reasons," an official said. (swe/imn/prb)