Remember the fate of the people
Remember the fate of the people
From Kompas
In view of the current situation of this republic's government, which is increasingly unclear, I would like to give a tip to the high-ranking officials and leaders concerned as follows:
The worsening situation might be caused by the uncertain status of the 1999 general election, which was an integral part of the then President BJ Habibie's accountability address, declined by the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR). As such, the 1999 general election was not recognized as a general election. Indeed, there was no general election.
Consequently, the current status of all members of the House of Representatives (DPR) and MPR is uncertain, and therefore it is natural that there are parties who say the Special Committee of Buloggate and Bruneigate are illegal.
As a matter of fact, the current anti-New Order DPR/MPR members came into existence thanks to the laws on political parties and general elections which were designed and issued by the New Order system.
So it is quite natural that now many of their decisions and policies have characteristics which can be traced back to the New Order operating style. If we want a stable government, the executive body should be free from officials of the parties which lost in the general election, and the latter should be only in the legislature. In other words let only the winning parties hold executive power.
H. BARNA SOEMANTRI
Bandung