'Sluggish deliberation may delay elections'

'Sluggish deliberation may delay elections'

Edith Hartanto and Novan Iman Santosa, The Jakarta Post,
Jakarta

Members of the General Election Commission (KPU) have called for
the speedy deliberation of the election bill to avoid a possible
delay of the 2004 General Election.

One of 24 bills being deliberated at the House of
Representatives (DPR), the election bill is part of a package of
four crucial political bills.

"Legislators must give priority to articles on KPU which will
conduct the election within a limited period of time," KPU deputy
chairman Ramlan Surbakti told The Jakarta Post on Friday,
referring specifically to chapter 6 of the bill dealing with KPU
structure.

KPU members, who believe that a full two years is needed to
prepare for the 2004 General Election, have complained that the
bill has seriously undermined their independence by giving the
Ministry of Home Affairs most of the authority to organize the
election.

Ramlan's call comes as time is running short. The DPR will
only set up its special committee to deliberate the political
bills on July 1, leaving only 15 days before the House ends its
hearing session on July 19.

KPU members expect legislators to discuss the 19-chapter
election bill within this period. Legislators, however, have
hinted they will do so only in August when the People's
Consultative Assembly (MPR) convenes its annual session.

"It is unlikely the special committee will start deliberating
the bill before the MPR's annual session. The House needs at
least three to four months to complete such a bill," said Yahya
Zaini of the Golkar Party faction.

If this is the case, he said, the House will only be able to
endorse it by December.

"Had the government submitted the bill sooner, the House would
have finalized it by now," Yahya told the Post.

Ramlan refuted it by saying that KPU had handed the draft law
to the then home affairs minister, Surjadi Soedirdja, in April
last year but the ministry only started working on it in January.

"Had they handed it to us, we could have finished it in less
than a month," Ramlan said.

The Ministry of Home Affairs, now under Army Let. Gen. (ret)
Hari Sabarno, submitted the draft law to the DPR late last month.

Yahya said the government's preference to wait until the
completion of the amendment of the 1945 Constitution was the
reason behind the delay. The fourth amendment of the Constitution
is being deliberated by the MPR.

Ramlan said the articles on KPU structure are needed as an
entry point to form election commissions at the regional level.
Even if the bill as a whole had not been passed into law but the
fact that DPR had agreed on those particular articles was enough
to get things moving, he said.

"Without an endorsement on those articles, we could not even
start preparing the election," Ramlan said.

MPR Decree No.IV/1999 stipulates that the next general
election will be held by the end of 2004 at the latest. KPU will
decide the election date after consulting the President.

The number of tasks to be done after the endorsement of the
package of political bills are enormous, including the training
of about 3.5 million election officials and polling station
officers, which will take about a year. Besides the election
bill, the three other bills are on political parties, on the
composition of representative bodies (locally known as susduk)
and on the presidency.

If the bills were only endorsed in January 2003 instead of
December 2004, Ramlan suggested that the election be delayed.

"If such things happen, it is better to delay the poll until
after 2004 for the sake of quality and credibility of the general
election. We must have a better election than the one in 1999,"
he said.

Timeline for the 2004 General Election:

* Political bills to be endorsed by December 2002.

* The formation and verification of the election committee in 30
provinces and some 400 regencies and mayoralties (to be completed
in six months time).

* The training of some 4,500 election officials and over 3
million polling station officers (12 months).

* The registration and verification of political parties to form
the DPR and the Regional Legislative Council (DPRD) (3 months).

* The registration and verification of individuals to form the
Regional Representatives Council (DPD) (3 months).

* Voters registration and population registration (3 months).