Power-hungry parties loath to share spoils: Analysts

Power-hungry parties loath to share spoils: Analysts

Ridwan Max Sijabat, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Can President Megawati Soekarnoputri, and the country's
governors, regents and legislators really claim to represent the
people?

This question is being raised increasingly amid general public
loss of confidence in both the legislative and executive organs
of government at both the central and local levels.

With the introduction of direct presidential and legislative
elections, an elected president will wield more power in the
sense that he or she will not be able to be dismissed as easily
as former president Abdurrahman "Gus Dur" Wahid in July 2001.
Legislators also enjoy more legitimacy now as they are elected
directly by their constituents.

The question of who really should hold the people's mandate
has colored the deliberations in the House of Representatives on
amendments to Law No. 22/1999 on local government and Law No.
25/1999 on fiscal balance between the central and local
governments.

Lawmakers insist that the political parties, through their
factions in the country's legislatures, should keep their key
role in the selection of local chief executives. The government
is opposed to this, saying independent candidates deserve an
equal chance to contest gubernatorial, regental and mayoral
elections.

Political analysts Ikrar Nusa Bhakti and Syamsuddin Haris of
the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI) branded the House's
stance as mere posturing.

"What is of greatest importance is that independent candidates
need to win the support of a certain percentage of eligible
voters," Ikrar told a discussion here on Monday.

The Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan)
and the Golkar Party factions, which together hold a clear
majority in the 500-strong House, have pushed for the
deliberation of the two House-sponsored bills, despite calls from
the members of the recently elected Regional Representatives
Council (DPD) to delay the debate until they take office on Oct.
1.

The Law on the composition of the People's Consultative
Assembly, House of Representatives, and provincial, regental and
municipal legislatures recommends direct elections for local
chief executives following the introduction of direct
presidential elections.

The President has issued a decree postponing all elections for
local government chief executives that should have taken place
this year until after the two bills have been endorsed.

Golkar legislator Ferry Mursyidan Baldan defended his
faction's stance, saying that allowing independent candidates to
run for the top posts in local governments would only further
increase vote buying.

"Non-partisan candidates who might want to contest these
elections would need to have a lot of money, and this could lead
to the possibility of their using their money to buy votes," he
said.

Vote buying was frequently reported during recent elections of
local government bosses, although only a few cases have been
proven in court.

PDI-P lawmaker Firman Jaya Daely agreed.

"Activists from non-governmental and other civil society
organizations are allowed to nominate candidates for local
government chief executive elections, but the nominations should
be made via the political parties," he said.

Ikrar said the growing calls for the local elections
commissions (KPUD) to allow independent candidates to run were
triggered by public distrust in the country's local
administrations and legislatures.

"The demonstrations that have been held demanding that newly
sworn-in councillors sign political contracts indicate that the
public no longer trust their local legislatures in the wake of
many corruption cases involving councillors," he said.

He suggested that independent candidates be allowed to run in
the next presidential election to counter the parties' monopoly
over power.

Syamsuddin questioned the ongoing revision of the local
autonomy laws, saying they had merely focused on the direct
election of local chief executives, even though local autonomy
was much broader than this.

"It would be better for the House to propose separate
legislation on the election of local government chief
executives," he said.