Time, the next hurdle for 2004 general election

Berni K. Moestafa and Hari Kurniawan, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The big question mark hanging over the 2004 general election has shrunk considerably with the windup of the constitutional amendment, but time is running out for the country to make preparations for the democratic event, analysts said.

Indonesia has one and a half years to prepare for its first- ever twin elections for the legislature and the presidency in what should take at least two years of preparations, said Chusnul Mar'iyah of the General Elections Commission (KPU), a body the government assigned to organize the elections.

With 198 political parties so far registered, the next elections of the House of Representatives (DPR) and regional representatives will likely see more contestants than ever before.

However, KPU's hands are tied. Proper preparations cannot begin without the election laws in place, said Chusnul.

"We must start with preparations now, even though all the (election) bills aren't ready yet," she said in an interview at her office. "Commission II (of the House) last time promised to complete everything by the end of this year; so we have 18 months to finish this all up."

Old election rules require that the now crippled People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) elect the president and vice president.

The Assembly completed three years of constitutional reforms talks to reduce its powers by, among other things, letting the people directly choose their president by 2004.

Now the question has shifted to whether the House can keep its word, and deliberate the election bills by the end of this year.

Three bills need to be passed by the legislature. They are the bills on the political parties, the general election and the composition of the Assembly, House of Representatives, regional representative council and regional legislative councils.

Analysts have suggested inserting the third bill on presidential elections into the general election to save time, which Chusnul said made sense.

"This is the first time. We need to examine various models and there has been few studies on this (situation)," she explained.

With the direct presidential election approaching, Indonesians are looking at new possibilities on how this country might be ruled.

The election laws have not been established yet, but Chusnul said theoretically Indonesia could elect a president who comes from a party that did not win a single seat in the legislature.

Political analyst Andi Mallarangeng agreed, saying this might seem new to Indonesia, but elsewhere this kind of outcome was normal.

The United States, he said, elected presidents whose parties did not win the majority in Congress.

"Look at Gus Dur, his party secured about 10 percent of the seats (at the House)," he said, referring to former president Abdurrahman Wahid by his nickname.

Gus Dur fell because a lack of support at the legislature was not compensated by a stronger legitimacy if the people had elected him, Andi said.

Gus Dur's rise to power in the last election came on the heels of backdoor politicking at the Assembly. The direct election means to eradicate these distortions.

But Chusnul added that lawmakers drafting the election laws might require that only major parties submit presidential candidates.

She said with questions like these, KPU was unable to start the registration of voters and election contestants.

Another KPU member, Mulyana W. Kusumah, said he hoped the laws were ready by October so that the commission could start registering the participants a month later.

Laws which are needed following the amendment of the 1945 Constitution

(Laws: Articles)

1. Law on composition of MPR, DPR, DPD, DPRD: Article 2

2. Law on General Elections: Article 6, 22E

3. Law on Political Parties: Article 6

5. Law on Supervisory Council: Article 16

5. Law on Types and Value of Currency: Article 23B

6. Law on Central Bank: Article 23D

7. Law on Judicial Authority: Article 24

8. Law on National Education: Article 31

9. Law on Economics: Article 33

10. Law on social welfare: Article 34

11. Law on Constitutional Court: Article 24C