'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).