Scholar calls on govt to stop in patron role
Scholar calls on govt to stop in patron role
YOGYAKARTA (JP): The government should stop playing the patron for political development because the policy has thwarted empowerment of the people, a senior observer proposed yesterday.
Loekman Soetrisno, a political scholar at Gadjah Mada University, said that to scrap the policy would prove that the government is taking concrete steps to reform the Indonesian political system.
Another important item on the government's agenda, he stressed, should be to improve the professionalism of the political elite -- especially those from the Armed Forces (ABRI).
"ABRI needs to improve its territorial personnel's professionalism because the military plays a dominant role in politics," Loekman said in a seminar on empowerment of the public at the city's Muhammadiyah University.
The one-day seminar also featured well-known political observer Afan Gaffar, also from Gadjah Mada University.
Loekman said the government has provided massive financial assistance to help empower the people. "But the funds alone are not enough.. (What's also needed is) change in the political system," he argued.
He explained how government intervention in the conflict splitting the Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI) in East Java has hampered democratization in Indonesia because the government has been trying to dictate a solution to the parties.
He gave another example. Recently, he said, the Central Java government showed off its undemocratic attitude when some local officials seized posters, without reason, carrying political messages from the United Development Party (PPP).
They did not do the same to posters splashed in the streets by the ruling Golkar party, Loekman pointed out.
Loekman emphasized that the government should relinquish the role of the patron of politics to the leaders of the political parties. He conceded that the move would prevent the government from controlling political parties in order to maintain the status quo.
He pointed out that politicians and bureaucrats, from the Minister of Home Affairs down to the district chiefs, control people's political activities on the pretext that they are the "patrons."
Another problem that hampers the nation's political development, Loekman said, is that bureaucrats become functionaries of the Golkar political grouping and at the same time supervise the PPP and the PDI.
Their stint in Golkar empowers them to do anything to help Golkar win every election, he said.
To make things worse, political party leaders can easily accept external intervention because they have no sufficient knowledge about the essence of democracy, he said.
"Party congresses often failed to elect a new chairman. There is a growing tendency that losing politicians form their own board of executives," he said.
PDI politicians who refused to accept the election of Megawati Soekarnoputri in an extraordinary congress in 1993 have formed a rival board. Although they are not recognized by the government, they have opened their branches in several provinces.
Afan Gaffar also emphasized the need for Indonesia to review its political laws.
He proposed that the laws should clearly state that the President can be re-elected only once.
"The limitation of the presidential terms of office will allow the people to participate more in political decision-making. Political laws ought to be reviewed," he said.
The 1945 Constitution states that the Indonesian President is elected for a five-year term of office and may be re-elected after that.
The proposal to limit the president's tenure usually appears in the run-up to a general election. Prior to the 1992 general election, the then PDI chief Soerjadi endured government's wrath after he made the same suggestion. (har/pan)