Setting a good precedent

Setting a good precedent

On the face of it, and despite all the talk about impeachment
and security threats, it seems that Indonesians have little to
worry about during the Annual Session of the People's
Consultative Assembly (MPR), which starts on Monday.

As news reports in a number of publications in the past week
have it, thousands of members of Banser, a civilian militia
controlled by the youth wing of Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), have
"infiltrated" Jakarta and are prepared to act if there is any
indication that there is an effort to unseat President
Abdurrahman Wahid during the Annual Session.

Abdurrahman, after all, was until his election to the
presidency in October last year, a highly revered chairman of
Nahdlatul Ulama as well as cofounder of the National Awakening
Party (PKB), which has the third largest faction in the Assembly.

The authorities, however, appear to be quite serious in their
threat to clamp down on troublemakers during the session, and the
police are under orders to shoot troublemakers on the spot. Party
militias or any other paramilitary civilian forces are barred
from the vicinity of the MPR building in Central Jakarta.

One major threat, indeed, is that certain factions or
individual members in the MPR could try to steer the Assembly
toward turning the Annual Session into a special session for the
purpose of impeaching the President, thereby provoking his
supporters.

But to squash some of the tension that this confrontation has
produced in the past weeks, leaders of the two largest factions
in the Assembly -- those of Golkar and the Indonesian Democratic
Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan) -- have made it publicly known
that their factions have no intention of turning the session into
a special session for such a purpose.

A similar statement was issued by the chairman of the National
Awakening Party (PAN) and speaker of the MPR, Amien Rais,
although cynics may doubt the sincerity of such a statement
coming from Amien, who -- rightly or wrongly -- has a reputation
for being inconsistent in word and deed.

Besides, the fact that certain members, especially those in
the PDI Perjuangan faction, still remain highly critical of
President Abdurrahman Wahid because of the dismissal of two of
his Cabinet ministers some time ago, together with the
possibility of "money politics", or vote buying, adds to the
uncertainty of the situation. This problem still hangs like a
sword of Damocles over Abdurrahman's head, although efforts have
been made to defuse the situation.

Whatever the stance of the political parties in this matter
may be, however, for the Indonesian public at large there is
nothing to be gained and a good deal to the lost from impeaching
the President so soon at the beginning of his political career.

Under the current Constitution drafted in 1945, the President
is required to account for his actions and policies only at the
end of his five-year term. Or the MPR could call a special
session whenever it is found by the House of Representatives, the
lower house of the Indonesian legislature, that the President has
digressed from the Constitution.

The majority of Indonesians, no doubt, would prefer that
things were left as they are. Amending the Constitution to
empower the annual sessions of the MPR to call a special session
would open the door to political chaos and uncertainty worse than
the nation experienced in the 1950s. What the consequences would
be of having a new president every year is something that would
be difficult to foretell.

Because of all this it is of paramount importance that the MPR
this time set a good precedent for future annual sessions to
follow. For that to be possible, it is important that all the
parties involved set aside their group and individual petty
interests and start working for the good of the nation. Not only
Indonesians, but foreign investors too are watching with interest
what direction this country's top legislative body will take.