Source APC Newsgroup: act.indonesia
Source APC Newsgroup: act.indonesia
Written by: tapol@gn.apc.org
Date: 09 Nov 1998 05:19:36
Subject: AWSJ: Indon Assembly To Meet Tue Amid Hopes For Reform
From: tapol@gn.apc.org (TAPOL)
Subject: AWSJ: Indon Assembly To Meet Tue Amid Hopes For ReformFrom Joyo:
>From Monday's Asian Wall Street Journal
November 8, 1998AWSJ: Indonesia Assembly To Meet Tue Amid Hopes For Reform
Dow Jones Newswires
By Jeremy Wagstaff
JAKARTA (Dow Jones)--A thousand people will gather Tuesday to try to transform
Indonesia into a democracy. But can these politicians who buttressed former
President Suharto's power for three decades be trusted to legislate themselves
into oblivion?No, say students and a growing number of former officials and retired
generals, who are calling for a sweeping overhaul of the political system.
Yes, say parliamentarians and the government of B.J. Habibie, who see the
People's Consultative Assembly as key in convincing Indonesians and the
outside world that they are serious about reform. Caught between the two: a
skeptical and confused public that wants to draw a line under the oppressive
order of Suharto but doesn't want change to involve a repeat of the anarchy of
May.That the job of cementing reform has fallen to an assembly regarded for
decades as a rubber stamp is an irony not lost on many Indonesians. It's part
of the political tangle that goes back to May, when street protests and
looting toppled Suharto but left in his place protege B.J. Habibie. A
politically weak Habibie quickly agreed to elections and a special assembly of
Parliament, which is to formalize new election rules.Composition In its three-day session, to start Tuesday, the 1,000-member
assembly will debate: allowing any party to compete in elections (previously
only three parties had been allowed); moving up elections to May 1999 from
2002; and limiting the presidency to two five-year terms.So far, so good. Few Indonesians question the need for these changes. But many
wonder whether the moves will be enough to usher in a new era or will they
merely open a side door for the same old faces to return to power. The
question at the heart of the debate is whether the change should be
constitutional, and gradual, or will only an uprooting of the old order
suffice?Take, for example, the composition of the assembly itself, which casts doubts
on its ability or willingness to sanction democratic reform. Half the members
of the assembly - which normally had been meeting every five years, mainly to
ceremoniously re-elect Suharto under the old regime - are appointed, most of
them supportive of either Suharto or Habibie. The other half are the 500
members of Parliament: 425 elected during Suharto's tenure in elections most
Indonesians regard as flawed, and 75 appointed by the military.The proposed new laws, drawn up by a committee representing the assembly's
factions, have drawn fire. Supporters say they offer exactly the kind of free
and fair election reformists want. But others suspect the changes are little
more than cosmetic, leaving the odds heavily stacked in favor of Golkar, the
ruling party whose machinery largely has remained intact despite Suharto's
ouster.Some groups also have demanded that the special session add to its agenda two
key issues: an investigation into Suharto's rule and wealth and the political
role of Indonesia's armed forces. According to one of the draft decrees, for
example, the appointed military component in the Parliament is to be reduced
to 55 from 75.Representatives of the United Development Party, one of the three parties
permitted under Suharto, said they will push these issues in the assembly
session. "Who's going to be responsible if the street parliament starts again
after the assembly session?" asked the party's assembly leader, Faisal Baasir,
referring to the street protests that brought down Suharto.Apart from a few new faces, though, most of the government's key positions are
held by Suharto acolytes. "The problem is that the people still in control of
state institutions are from the old regime," said Arief Budiman, professor of
Indonesian studies at the University of Melbourne.Some Indonesians suspect that months of heady talk about reforming
institutions, flushing out cronyism, collusion and nepotism and mapping a new
order have done little more than dent the pillars of the old regime,
particularly the military. "The status quo forces are intact; Suharto's
pyramid is intact," said Islamic opposition leader Amien Rais. The Habibie
government seems to be bolstering its position ahead of the assembly session.
More than 250 assembly members, for example, have been replaced since July,
mostly by figures seen as more pro-Habibie than their predecessors. Many of
these are members of Golkar, the dominant political group of the Suharto era
and, with 585 seats, by far the biggest party in the assembly.A mass meeting of Islamic groups last week was also seen as a move by Habibie
allies to mobilize support for both the president - long linked with some
Islamic groups - and the assembly session. But efforts to woo popular
opposition figures such as Megawati Sukarnoputri, Amien Rais and Abdurrahman
Wahid backfired, with all three declining Golkar invitations to join the
assembly session.Habibie needs a successful assembly to ride out the next six months or so
before any election. His government remains hamstrung, critics say, largely by
its links to the past. Dependent on individuals and groups who supported his
rise to the presidency, Habibie is caught between the obligations of the past
and efforts to forge his own political future. He has, for example, come under
increasing fire for failing to push through an investigation into his
predecessor. "Habibie's popularity has risen, but confidence remains elusive,"
said C.P.F. Luhulima, a political scientist at the Indonesian Institute of
Sciences.
That's why Habibie is hoping for a smooth week. But it's far from assured
he'll get it. The very students who brought down Suharto - and thus led his
deputy to power - promise to mobilize against the assembly, demanding
Habibie's resignation and the formation of a transitional government.Anticipating unrest, the armed forces have deployed 20,000 police and military
personnel, as well as 125,000 civilian members of volunteer security teams,
around the capital.But not every critic of the assembly is convinced of the need for conflict or
radical change. Many see any head-on collision with the military - either by
challenging its constitutional right to a political role or through clashes on
the streets - as likely to undermine Indonesia's fragile stability. "It might
be risky to have radical reform because politics is not a zero-sum game but a
win-win situation," said Affan Gafar, a political scientist at Gadjah Mada
University in Yogyakarta.Others say that while the constitutional approach to reform is by no means
perfect, it's the best route between the old regime and the new. Rais, for
one, says that despite the flawed process, and suspicions that Habibie is only
using the assembly to buttress his power, the Islamic opposition leader isn't
calling on his supporters to derail the assembly. "There would be a vacuum if
we foil the assembly.... Revolution is not appropriate now for Indonesian
people," he said.Richard Borsuk, Puspa Madani and special correspondent Rin Hindryati
contributed to this article.+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
TAPOL, the Indonesia Human Rights Campaign
111 Northwood Road, Thornton Heath,
Surrey CR7 8HW, UK
Phone: 0181 771-2904 Fax: 0181 653-0322
email: tapol@gn.apc.org
Campaigning to expose human rights violations in
Indonesia, East Timor, West Papua and AcehJoin us to celebrate TAPOL's 25th anniversary on
20 October 1998. Contact us for ticket details.
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