Reserved House seats for Korpri opposed

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)