Regional faction reinstated, 'bad men' return

Bambang Nurbianto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Remember the old politicians who made a scene jostling and screaming at each other at the first-day meeting of the People's Consultative Assembly the other day?

The "bad men" eventually got what they fought for yesterday: Their Regional Representatives Faction will be reinstated. It will be renamed, though.

Observers see the re-establishment of the faction liquidated in 1999 as a significant win for the Golkar Party, to which they affiliated until 1999 -- a year after the New Order government tumbled.

So far, they are attached to various major political parties, such as Golkar and Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan).

Chairman of Commission D, which deliberated the reinstatement of the action, Amin Said Husni, said the name of the faction was yet to be created.

Amin said the decision was made thanks to a compromise between legislators from PDI-Perjuangan and Golkar Party, which had opposing views on the issue before.

Golkar would become majority faction in the Assembly if all the 130 regional representatives joined it.

The PDI-Perjuangan used to refuse reviving the Regional Representatives Faction as it would weaken its bargaining position in the Assembly.

Over 60 regional representatives are now with Golkar, 30 with PDI-Perjuangan while the rest are with smaller factions.

In the past, members of the faction were appointed by the then president Soeharto. In 1999, the faction members were picked by the regional councils.

Amin, who is a legislator from the National Awakening Party (PKB), said that the commission agreed on the regional faction reinstatement on four conditions.

* Regional representatives are free to choose whether they will become members of the new faction or they will remain with current factions of their choice.

* The reinstatement of new faction would not change structure and composition of the Assembly's leadership. It means that there would be no Assembly leader from the faction.

* The 90-member Assembly's Working Committee composition will not change.

* Regional representatives who join the Regional Representatives Faction should quit their political parties.

Jacobus K. Mayongpadang, a PDI-Perjuangan lobbyist, claimed that a compromise can be reached after four conditions proposed by his faction were agreed by the Golkar faction.