PPP, PDI should become opposition parties, scholar
PPP, PDI should become opposition parties, scholar
JAKARTA (JP): The Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI) and the
United Development Party (PPP) should act as opposition parties
in order for a system of checks and balances to operate, a
widely-respected Moslem scholar said yesterday.
Nurcholis Madjid said if the two parties functioned as
opposition parties, control over the executive branch of
government would become truly effective.
"Indonesia needs opposition parties to act as a check on the
government," Nurcholis told journalists after addressing a
seminar on Islamic perspectives on modern Indonesia. The seminar
was organized jointly by the Ansor Youth Movement and the
Muhammadiyah Youth Organization.
Indonesia recognizes three political organizations, which may
contest general elections: the PDI, PPP and Golkar. The latter
calls itself a "grouping," although it functions like a political
party.
The Indonesian political system does not recognize opposition
parties and the government has firm control over all political
organizations.
Nurcholis argued that opposition parties, coupled with strong
mass media, would be a powerful checks-and-balances means of
achieving a clean government.
He cited as an example the wide media coverage of the recent
corruption case involving state-owned Bank Pembangunan Indonesia,
which caused the losses to the state of some Rp 1.3 trillion
(US$620 million).
"The press coverage of the corruption case, not the judicial
system, proved effective to check the conduct of officials," he
said.
The PDI, child of a government-sponsored merger of nationalist
and Christian parties in 1973, is the smallest of Indonesia's
three political organizations. Nevertheless, it is regarded by
foreign analysts as the closest thing to an opposition force in
the country. The PPP is a largely conservative party whose
support base is among Moslem groups.
Nurcholis admitted that the establishment of opposition
parties was contradictory to the law.
"The law that shuns opposition parties is against the people's
basic rights to speak and to associate," he said.
He said that members of both the PPP and the PDI should have
the courage to nominate their respective party leaders as
candidates for the Indonesian presidency, rather than merely
backing the government's candidate.
"They should dare to nominate their own (party) leaders as
president in the 1997 election," he said.
He acknowledged that the idea of nominating the two parties'
leaders as presidential candidates might sound absurd at present.
"But somebody must try to do it," he added.
Din Syamsudin, chairman of Golkar's research and development
division and one of the speakers in the seminar, took issue with
Nurcholis over the idea.
He argued that Indonesia cannot have opposition parties until
the Indonesian people are "mature" enough to practice full-
fledged democracy.
"Let's be frank: Is our socio-cultural situation ready to have
a political system with opposition parties?" he asked.
He said that the opposition system is currently inapplicable
in the Indonesian political system.
At the village level, where the people are more involved in
the decision-making process, the concept of "opposition" does not
exist, he said.
He contended that Western countries did not adopt systems
involving opposition parties until their democratic
infrastructure was "mature enough."
"Our democracy is still developing. It would be risky to apply
such a system," he added. (imn)