Reserved House seats for Korpri opposed
JAKARTA (JP): The idea of allocating seats in the House of Representatives to members of the Corps of Civil Servants (Korpri) drew fire from a senior statesman yesterday.
Emil Salim said he saw no reason for civil servants to be deprived of their political right to vote in the general election.
Advocates of the idea liken the corps to the Armed Forces, which do not vote in the election but are accorded 75 seats in the House.
Just like the Armed Forces, they argue, civil servants ought not affiliate with any political organization because they are supposed to serve people regardless of their political background.
In practice, the Armed Forces is the backbone of the ruling Golkar, which it established in 1964 to counter the growing influence of the Indonesian Communist Party.
Emil Salim, former state minister of population and environment, argued that the civil service corps mission is fundamentally different from that of the Armed Forces.
"The Armed Forces deals with maintaining security and stability in the nation. They have to remain neutral," he said.
The six-million strong civil service corps, known for its affiliation with Golkar, has openly indicated its desire to have House seats reserved for its members.
Korpri chairman Suryatna Soebrata said Wednesday it would "probably be good" if corps members were represented by appointment in the House.
"That way, they wouldn't need to waste their energy voting in the election," said Suryatna, also secretary-general of the Home Affairs Ministry.
Observers say Korpri members face a dilemma because they are public servants and therefore supposedly neutral but traditionally they are Golkar supporters.
The Indonesian civil service, in reality, does not play a neutral role on the political scene and has proclaimed itself a proponent of the Golkar faction.
The corps formed part of Golkar's election machinery in past years, sending members to Golkar election rallies nationwide.
At its recent congress in September this year, Korpri reaffirmed its support for Golkar stated in Korpri Social, Political and Legal Guidelines.
Korpri is one of three main forces in the make-up of Golkar leadership. The other two are the Armed Forces and representatives from mass organizations.
The two minority political parties, the United Development Party (PPP) and the Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI), object to government regulations requiring civil servants to vote for Golkar.
Emil, a member of the board of advisors to the politically well-connected Association of Indonesian Moslem Intellectuals (ICMI), said it would be more sensible to give corps members the freedom to vote for any political organization they like than to reserve them seats in the House.
A 1985 law on political organizations stipulates that Korpri members may channel their political rights through any political organizations only upon the "approval" of their superiors.
Golkar, the PPP and the PDI, will contest 425 of the 500 available seats in the House, in next year's general election. The remaining 75 seats are reserved for the Armed Forces. (imn)