Indonesia gearing up for elections

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Friday, April 02, 2004

Indonesia gearing up for elections

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Only days left for Indonesia to hold the April 5 parliamentary elections to be followed by the July 5 presidential elections, both will constitute the second major experiment of the country's democracy since the downfall of long-serving president Soeharto in 1998.

After holding the most democratic elections in 1999, Indonesia steps further to reform her political lives with major changes expected to undergo in the upcoming elections.

The most significant change in the legislative elections will be the introduction of a bicameral system, under which the parliament will consist of members of the House of Representatives(DPR) and those of the Regional Representatives Council (DPD).

Members of the two Houses will be directly elected by voters. Previously, people voted for the contesting political parties, which then internally and unilaterally assigned their representatives at the parliament.

DPD members, or senators, will represent 32 provinces, replacing "reserved" seats formerly acquired by clerics and leaders of social and political groups joining the functional group.

Functional group and the DPR currently join together to form the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR), the country's highest law-making body.

Furthermore, the military and the police have agreed to leave political life completely and to refrain from pushing for seats inthe DPR.

Twenty-four contesting parties entered the cooling down stage Friday after a three-week electoral campaign period. No campaign activities are allowed until the Monday's polls, which will elect 550 DPR members and 128 senators.

President Megawati Soekarnoputri's Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) and the former ruling party, but still powerful Golkar, are expected to maintain leading role in the parliament.

However, several Islamic parties have made remarkable "show of force" with millions of supporters nationwide during the recent campaign season in the world's most populous Muslim nation.

They included the National Mandate Party led by MPR Speaker Amien Rais, the National Awakening Party founded by former president Abdurrahman Wahid and the Prosperous Justice Party chaired by Hidayat Nur Wahid, who gains popularity here for his strong criticism to the United States and uncompromised war call against corruption.

But it is beyond any doubt that the most-awaited event will be the presidential elections, the first time in history Indonesia will let some 140 million eligible voters decide themselves.

The couple of presidential-vice presidential candidates must win a landslide victory from voters to assume presidency, replacing the old system which required only an MPR voting to assign a president.

If no candidate obtains above 50 percent of the votes, an American-style runoff will be held on Sept. 20 for two best candidates.

In her struggle for a second term, Megawati will face challenges from a long list of serious contenders, including AmienRais, a strong critic to the government, sisters Rachmawati and Sukmawati Soekarnoputri, former key aide Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and Soeharto's daughter Siti Hardijanti Rukmana.

Meanwhile, second largest party Golkar is holding an internal selection before announcing one out of six candidates for the presidential race.

All presidential candidates have not named their mate so far until the legislative polls result is announced so as to allow them to assess public support for their respective parties.

Rais said earlier he considered pairing with vote-getter Susilo,but the latter refused on ground that he himself was nominated forpresident by his Democrat Party.

Megawati has made it clear she would not partner with anyone who "besmirches me even before the elections start," meaning that Susilo, who quitted the top security minister post after a blazingrow with the president, is out of her list.

Golkar chairman Akbar Tandjung has said he mulled joining Megawati as a vice president in the new government, only to spark protests among the party's senior members.

Tandjung, who is also DPR speaker, is now among Golkar's presidential candidates.

Whatever results the elections will bring, Indonesia will be much different after the elections than it is today.

The next president will be able to legitimately claim that he or she is of the people's choice, and the parliament members will secure their seats not because parties assign them, but because constituents vote for them.

Source: Xinhua

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