Servicemen 'must resign' to contest DPD seats
Servicemen 'must resign' to contest DPD seats
Muhammad Nafik and Tertiani ZB Simanjuntak, The Jakarta Post,
Jakarta
Analysts welcomed on Monday moves to allow military and police
personnel the right to contest elections, but insisted that they
resign from the services completely before registering their
candidacy as members of the Regional Representatives Council
(DPD).
"They should resign from the military and police services
completely if they want to contest seats in DPD in general
elections," said Ramlan Surbakti, a constitutional law expert
from Surabaya's Airlangga University.
People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) members endorsed last
year the third phase of constitutional amendments, which
stipulate that, among other things, the MPR comprises House of
Representatives and DPD members only, all of whom are elected.
Currently MPR members consist of House members, regional
representatives and interests groups.
Under the amended Constitution, there will be only 120 DPD
members in the legislature representing 30 provinces, or four
from each province.
The home ministry submitted to the House last week the revised
electoral bill which, if endorsed, allows military and police
members to contest seats in the DPD in the 2004 elections.
Analysts have hailed the bill, saying that allowing military
and police personnel to run in general elections would strip the
two institutions of any political roles.
They also called for the immediate revocation of Decree No.
7/2000 of the MPR guaranteeing a military and police presence in
the House until 2004, and in the MPR until 2009.
The TNI and the police have 38 seats in both the House and the
Assembly.
The bill, however, suggests that civil servants, military and
police personnel contesting general elections be suspended from
their positions, and later be reinstated if they are not elected
or no longer serve as DPD members.
According to Ramlan, if civil servants, military and police
personnel only temporarily resign to contest elections, their
loyalty to their constituents would be questionable when serving
as legislators.
"They would remain loyal to the government or corps rather
than to their constituents," insisted Ramlan, who is also a
member of the General Elections Commission (KPU).
Satya Arinanto, a constitutional law expert from the
University of Indonesia, concurred with Ramlan, saying that
allowing civil servants, military and police officers to take
leave only to contest an election was totally unacceptable in any
democratic country.
J. Kristiadi, a military analyst from the Centre for Strategic
and International Studies (CSIS), said it was "abnormal" to allow
active civil servants, military and police officers to vie for
legislative seats.
"If so, they will continue to be loyal to their superiors and
corps even if they are serving as legislators because their
careers will rely on them," he said.
Kristiadi said that it would be a consequence that military
and police officers would have to accept if they failed to win
seats in the DPD but had already resigned from the services.
Bambang Widjojanto, a senior activist from the Coalition of
Non-Governmental Organizations for the Change of Political Laws,
said that it was very likely that civil servants would misuse
state facilities if they did not quit to register as electoral
candidates.
"The misuse of state facilities would be unavoidable if civil
servants contesting general elections are still tied to their
positions," he said.
Also rejecting the idea was prominent legal expert Todung
Mulya Lubis, who said the move to give the TNI and police the
right to be elected would provide them with the "leeway" to be
involved in practical politics.
Responding to the criticism, Minister of Defense Matori Abdul
Djalil simply urged the House to accommodate the public's
aspirations before endorsing the bill.