Time, the next hurdle for 2004 general election

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