'Setbacks' in DPR political bills debate deplored

JAKARTA (JP): While lauded for retaining the proportional representation voting system for next year's poll, the House of Representatives (DPR) was lambasted on Monday for recent "setbacks" in its deliberation of three political bills.

In a discussion organized by the World Trade Center and the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung here, the "setbacks" mentioned by scholars included the attempt to exclude representatives of societal groups from the National Election Committee (KPU) and Golkar's campaign to permit civil servants to join political parties.

Scholars also criticized the Armed Forces (ABRI) for continuing to insist upon an unelected presence in the House.

Constitutional law professor Ismail Suny called the military's presence in the House "unconstitutional", pointing out that the 1945 Constitution states that House members should be elected.

"They should only sit in the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR). The DPR is supposed to consist purely of elected representatives," Suny reiterated.

Both the MPR and DPR have agreed to continue granting unelected seats to the Armed Forces, however the final number is still under debate. ABRI want 55, down from the current 75, Golkar have proposed 25, while the United Development Party (PPP) have said that 10 seats would be sufficient. The Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI) is undecided, but has said the number should be less than 55.

Andi Mallarangeng, who was on government's team of seven experts assigned to draft the political bills, said he was bewildered by the argument put forward by Golkar to justify allowing civil servants to join political parties.

"They cited human rights. Just imagine that! They are the bureaucracy. They should serve all with absolute impartiality. Allowing civil servants to enter politics is tantamount to allowing them to violate other people's human rights," Andi said.

"Civil servants must simply not be politicized," he warned.

Sabam Sirait, a senior member of the popular faction of the splintered PDI under Megawati Soekarnoputri, said that civil servants and the Armed Forces must be neutral so the general election could proceed in a democratic manner.

With none of the factions showing any sign of backing down, the House appears to be heading for a vote on the issue in its January plenary session.

Andi called for the public to pressure the House into banning civil servants from holding political party membership and complained that the government was unable to influence the House on the matter.

Andi, a lecturer in politics at Hasanuddin University in Ujungpandang, South Sulawesi, also urged the public -- particularly the media and students -- to campaign for the cause.

Andi and Syamsuddin Haris from the National Institute of Science (LIPI), who also spoke at the discussion, said the exclusion of community groups from the KPU had slipped through because both the media and students had failed to draw enough attention to the issue.

"We are about to repeat our experience with the LPU (the existing electoral committee). Then no one will be able to guarantee that the upcoming elections will be free and fair,' Syamsuddin said.

Andi said the government wanted to include independent and non-partisan members of society like the respected Moslem scholar Nurcholish Madjid and professor Miriam Budiardjo to make the KPU more credible.

However, factions in the House argued that the recent MPR decree on the election only stipulated that the poll must be organized by representatives of the government and political parties.

Other speakers in the discussion were Golkar Deputy Chairman Marzuki Darusman, the Secretary-general of the Independent Electoral Monitoring Committee (KIPP) Mulyana Kusumah, PPP executive Alfian Darmawan and the Chairman of Partai Umat Islam Deliar Noer. (aan)