Total reform is just that

In an effort to implement reform, the Habibie administration and the House of Representatives have agreed not to hold a general election until next year. According to their schedule, the legislature needs six months to revamp the existing political laws, which will serve as a basis for the change. New Minister of Home Affairs Syarwan Hamid has said that his ministry needs three to four months to draft the amendments to the laws before they can be submitted to the House.

After this more time will be needed to publicize the new political system and prepare for the polls and establishment of the new House and People's Consultative Assembly (MPR). The latter, the country's highest constitutional authority, will eventually elect a new president and vice president.

Amid these activities, we are witnessing more and more groups reminding the authorities and their supporters that the only way to heal the nation's multidimensional crisis is total reform, including the election of a new president. They say that Soeharto's departure and his replacement by B. J. Habibie only changes the make up of the administration and not the repressive system.

If this is left as it is, they say, it will be impossible for the authorities to regain the people's trust. The current situation will only lead to a new status quo, continue the dangerous political uncertainty, worsen the calamitous economic conditions and prolong the people's suffering.

We have also learned that Western powers will only come to help salvage us if they can see genuine political stability here.

We are also of the opinion that the authorities should not jump to hasty conclusions that their efforts, such as the release of political prisoners and a promise of press freedom, will satisfy the public's demands for total reform. We need to remind them of this because there are tendencies among some people to reduce the meaning of total reform to just the erasure of corrupt, nepotistic and collusive practices.

Many people have also started to question why Habibie has only listened to one group of six public figures, which includes politician Amien Rais, economist Emil Salim and lawyer Adnan Buyung Nasution, who is another Johnny-come-lately. In this respect we are sorry to say that Amien's recent claim that Habibie had not trapped the group has not been supported by reality.

There are some people who pin their hopes on Habibie's concept of total reform with all his concessions but we are concerned that this will be just a farce to prolong the life of a new status quo. We believe that the meeting of the MPR is the only solution. But since the majority of MPR members were handpicked by Soeharto, factions need to replace their members to increase the level of democracy.

Within Golkar, the majority faction, all those appointed under Soeharto's nepotistic umbrella, have been asked to quit. Reports have said that some 200 people fall into this category.

In 1966, one third of the MPR, which was appointed by the outgoing president Sukarno, was replaced without a problem.

It is important to achieve the same result now, because despite the efforts of certain factions within Golkar to undermine the party, the main issue is maintaining political stability while implementing an economic recovery.