Tough job for the Assembly
Tough job for the Assembly
Friday marks another milestone in the history of the 54-year-
old Indonesian republic. On this day the second democratically
elected People's Consultative Assembly convenes. Its members
include all members of the House of Representatives.
The first democratic Assembly this country established was in
the wake of the 1955 general election, the first and only fair
general election here until last June.
The nation's journey toward democracy has been a long and
rough ride. The struggle for a universally recognized political
system was tragically interrupted by presidents Sukarno's and
Soeharto's authoritarian rules starting in 1959 and 1971
respectively.
Sukarno seized power by dissolving parliament with a decree,
and his successor staged his first dirty and deadly election in
1971 to divert the nation from its dream of a democratic future.
But it is also worth remembering that this year's general
election does not mean a complete shift from old values to new.
The general election was called in an effort to address the
nation's problems in the wake of student demonstrations, which
managed to force Soeharto to step aside in May last year.
As there was no other method available, the electoral process
was based on the 1945 Constitution, the imperfect, outdated but
most exploited document in our history, and on which many laws
have been based.
The nation has for the past year been in a transitional
period, living under a Soeharto-style government. That is why
most thinking citizens never expected any change that would
produce total reform.
Now people pin their hopes on the new Assembly, the nation's
highest constitutional body, to introduce total reform, just as
student demonstrators strived for last year.
To avoid a repeat of the aftermath of the 1955 polls, the new
Assembly must turn out a democratic and strong government under a
reformist leadership. Judging by the failure of the June polls to
yield an absolute majority -- just like the 1955 general election
-- the task will be complicated and precarious.
There is one political contestant who leads the vote, but in
the Indonesian system such a strength does not guarantee the
right to lead the nation. There is an outstanding majority of
Assembly members, who comprise interest group members, regional
representatives and 38 nonelected military men, who have their
own concepts of national programs.
Our system might appear to be the most confusing in the world,
but it is the only system we have. So even now poor Indonesians
are still in the dark about who will lead them for the next five
years.
Other arduous problems which the nation has put on the
shoulders of Assembly members include the amendment of the 1945
Constitution, the introduction of good governance, respect for
human rights, judiciary independence, a legal solution to the
alleged corruption by Soeharto and his cronies during 32 years of
iron-fisted rule, the creation of effective regional autonomy and
the end of the military's sociopolitical role.
With all these matters combined, the Assembly can only reach a
deadlock if its members fail to show statesmanship, shed their
political egotism, and put their loyalty to their political
parties aside, because the nation needs their absolute loyalty as
never before.