There's hope in new legislators

Doubts and hopes of all Indonesians on whether badly needed changes for the better will occur colored Friday's installment of the new legislators. Politics lecturer Riswandha Imawan comments on the issue in an interview with The Jakarta Post.

Question: How would you judge the ability and composition of the new legislators?

Answer: Some are, indeed, figures who have changed clothes; old figures who switched parties. There are figures like Mathori Abdul Djalil, who is from the United Development Party (PPP) and now chairs the National Awakening Party (PKB). They were among critical figures and were threatened with being discharged by their parties.

What also must be noted regarding the current composition of legislators is the many relatively young figures from various disciplines. There is legal expert Yusril Ihza Mahendra, political expert Amien Rais and economist Kwik Kian Gie, and many others.

This composition reveals that the entrance of the New Order extension -- represented by old figures still dumbfounded by the illusions of the Soeharto regime -- theoretically cannot do anything in the legislature. Except for the X factor, like money politics. If they were affected, they would become nobody.

However, in state administration, the bureaucracy needs specialists. And the many specialists in the legislature will also make coordination difficult. Could you elaborate?

Those specialists still consider their own fields as the most important, which would hamper team work. An accommodative manager would be needed to organize them into a harmonious orchestra ... to avoid chaos.

Who do you think would have such managerial skills?

Gus Dur (Abdurrahman Wahid) could meet such needs for the House of Representatives. He's done that several times. Or if we were to ignore civil-military differences, the Indonesian Military Chief of Territorial Affairs Lt. Gen. Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono could also carry out such a role.

What about the composition of the People's Consultative Assembly?

Here we have many people who got their seats for political reasons. I see elections of several of them are not free from the smell of money politics. Take Fuad Bawazier, he was rejected in Central Java. But then he made it in Yogyakarta. Anyone would be suspicious. Abdul Gafur was rejected in Aceh but he made it anyway to the Assembly. In general, things look bad for the Assembly. They could be really partisan. But I think at the House, people there are really committed to the reform agenda.

Would that mean we could hope for a thorough revelation and settlement of rights abuses and corruption, especially the case concerning former president Soeharto?

I would think so, especially when the new Cabinet starts. From the current Cabinet we cannot hope for anything anymore. (President B.J.) Habibie was finished well before the Assembly's General Session. If he were reelected with Wiranto as vice president there would be extraordinary resistance from the public. In other words, all those who have been assumed to protect Soeharto's practices of corruption, collusion and nepotism would no doubt be removed. And those preferred by the public will come forth.

Are you sure that the current composition of the legislature renders small the chance for Habibie and Wiranto as his proposed vice president?

Yes, if efforts persist (to make them president and vice president), for instance through money politics, the public will raise massive resistance. The Assembly members should, therefore, really listen to the voice of the people, that they are objecting to the Habibie-Wiranto duo.

True, in the current situation of the country we cannot just abandon the role of the Indonesian Military (TNI) in politics, at least in the next five years. Anyone who becomes president should have a vice president from TNI.

Why?

We only have two choices now. One is accommodating them with the risk that we tolerate militarism, or two, letting them be, meaning letting their nature develop unchecked to the extent they take over power. The first choice is clearly better because it would avoid a greater disaster. It must be understood that the main function of TNI is to uphold the law while our laws and rules are now in chaos. The question is why TNI all this time didn't do this, which is, of course, related to its track record of 32 years, in which it was not neutral. (swa)