Public supports MPR meeting but ...

Public supports MPR meeting but ...

On Tuesday, the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) convenes
to forge what President B.J. Habibie calls the nation's reform
agenda. A survey commissioned by The Jakarta Post and D&R
newsweekly set out to pinpoint the people's real feelings about
the MPR's Special Session.

JAKARTA (JP): Although many people in Indonesia support the
session, most cited reasons other than the one upheld by the MPR
leadership and President Habibie, according to a new survey.

Bringing former president Soeharto to account for his 32-year
leadership tops the list of people's expectations of the session.

The establishment of a presidium government comes next.

The MPR leadership is convening the session primarily to move
forward the general election date, originally planned for 2002,
to May or June next year.

The change was forced upon the MPR after the abrupt
resignation of Soeharto in May amid growing calls for reform.
Habibie, the vice president who stepped into Soeharto's shoes,
has since struck a deal with MPR speaker Harmoko to convene a
general election and presidential election next year.

The Special Session had been expected to formalize their
"reform" agenda.

However, preparing for a general election ranked seventh and
last concerning expectations of the session in the minds of the
1,158 respondents in Jakarta, Yogyakarta/Surakarta, Surabaya,
Denpasar and Medan.

Removing old MPR decrees ranked third, electing a president
was fourth and dismantling the sociopolitical role of the Armed
Forces (ABRI) fifth, according to the survey conducted by the
Resource Productivity Center.

Harmoko has said the MPR meeting will endorse 11 other decrees
besides setting an election date. Bringing Soeharto to account
for his leadership and ending ABRI's "dual function" are
pointedly not among them.

Some 43 percent of the respondents agreed with the
government's position that the session was a top priority for the
nation in order to push the reform agenda.

But a sizable number of them also ranked as important the
election of a new president and investigations into the
kidnapping of political activists by the military and the fatal
shooting of students at Trisakti University in May.

Holding a general election ranked a lowly eighth, and
stabilizing the economy a surprising ninth and last in the list
of priorities for the national political agenda.

Despite massive media publicity, more than three-fourths of
the respondents confessed ignorance about the real agenda of the
Special Session; another 10 percent said they could not care
less. Only 13.4 percent said they knew the precise agenda.

The respondents' high expectations of the session contrasts
sharply with their low opinion of the 1,000-strong MPR, an
assembly of people "elected" during the 1997 general election and
hundreds of Soeharto's handpicked appointees.

Not surprisingly, a staggering 91 percent did not believe MPR
members truly represented the people.

When asked what it would take for MPR members to be more
representative of the people, most respondents said they should
be chosen through fair and democratic elections.

More than 60 percent did not feel the current political system
and its institutions, including the MPR, had lived up to the
spirit of the 1945 Constitution which stipulates that sovereignty
is in the hands of the people.

Many respondents -- 41 percent -- nevertheless supported the
Special Session, saying that it was evidence of people's
sovereignty; 35.5 percent said it would allow the government to
pursue the reform agenda.

Cynicism is also prevalent, with 16.3 percent of respondents
saying the session was being used by Habibie to give greater
legitimacy to his government, and 15.9 percent asserting it was a
waste of public money.

The tally of answers to several questions exceeded 100 percent
since respondents were allowed to tick more than one answer.

Distrust at the MPR members runs deep, and many people will be
closely observing how they perform in the Special Session.

More than 43 percent of the respondents said the nation should
organize an even earlier general election if the MPR failed to
meet the people's aspirations.

Another 35 percent said they would fight for their interests
through the newly established political parties, or through non-
governmental organizations and the mass media.

More than a fifth of the respondents said demonstrations
should continue. (emb)