PPP lobbies hard for electoral law reform bill
PPP lobbies hard for electoral law reform bill
JAKARTA (JP): United Development Party (PPP) leaders met with their House of Representatives counterparts from the Armed Forces faction yesterday to solicit support for its electoral law reform bill.
The Armed Forces (ABRI) was the first faction the PPP approached to push its Bill on Initiative onto the agenda of the House of Representatives.
The PPP is forging ahead with its campaign to change the election regulations, even though most observers do not believe the bill has any chance of ever being debated in the House.
Suparman Achmad, the ABRI faction chairman, said he would need about two weeks to study the bill before he announces ABRI's official stand.
"We will seriously consider the bill," Suparman said as he received the bill from PPP faction chairman Hamzah Haz in his tiny office crammed with journalists.
He said he personally thinks the existing electoral law does not need revising, but agreed that the implementation of the law could be improved.
PPP leaders said they will approach the other two factions in the House, the ruling Golkar and the minority Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI), next week.
The PPP must muster the support of at least 20 members from two factions to have the bill debated in the House.
Although most political observers have dismissed PPP's chances, they said the move alone could win the party extra votes in the 1997 general election.
Golkar chief Harmoko has repeatedly said the existing electoral law is still relevant and that his political grouping is not interested in discussing possible amendments.
"Who knows? Luck might be on our side, and they (Golkar) could change their minds," Hamzah told journalists yesterday.
PDI politicians have been sympathetic to the PPP's initiative from the outset, even though PPP refused them support when PDI sought revision of the same law in the 1980s.
Hamzah said the bill aims at making the electoral system fair to all candidates and political parties contesting the polls.
The bill seeks to revise the law to allow all contestants to actively take part in the whole electoral process, from the planning stage to supervision, vote counting and evaluation.
The proposed legislation seeks to end the President's monopoly on organizing elections, and give contestants a greater say in the way elections are administered.
The PPP wants elections to be held on a holiday, or have the election day made a public holiday, to minimize the possibility of people casting more than one ballot.
Hamzah argued that other factions endorsing the bill will help eliminate the image that the House is the government's rubber stamp.
The House has not made a single law of its own in the last three decades, and all bills sponsored by the government have been endorsed by the House.
Hamzah said he hoped the ABRI would support the PPP bill, thus paving the way for its deliberation.
"Remember, ABRI is regarded as the stabilizer of the nation's politics," he said. (pan)