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World - Asia/Pacific

Top official quells concerns on looming Indonesian election delay

graphic January 15, 1999
Web posted at: 5:33 a.m. EST (1033 GMT)

JAKARTA, Indonesia (CNN) -- Indonesia's top election official rejected claims Friday that the country's elections could be delayed due to an impasse among parliamentarians.

The chief election law official said there had been a breakthrough and Indonesia's parliamentarians were expected to reach full agreement in time for the January 28 deadline.

His comments came within hours of a warning being issued that the elections could be delayed.

"Everything will be resolved by January 28, I guarantee that," said Ryaas Rasyid, head of the government team drafting political laws.

But one of Rasyid's counterparts was not so sure. "If there is no breakthrough and the talks are still deadlocked, I am afraid the January 28 deadline for the passage of the (political) laws will not be met," said Andi Mallarangeng, a member of the government-appointed team charged with drafting such laws.

"And if that happens, elections will be postponed," he said.

Any change to the scheduled June 7 polls would almost certainly lead to fresh outbreaks of unrest across the country similar to those in May when President Suharto was forced to resign after 32 years of rule.

Parliament will be shut all next week, over the end of the Muslim fasting month, and resume work only on January 25.

"When the session resumes on January 25th, we only have three days...that is too short a time to resolve all the issues," Mallarangeng said.

Parliament started debating the draft political laws required to satisfy requirements for the election, on October 2.

But Rasyid said two crucial issues were solved Friday afternoon enabling parliamentarians to move towards a consensus on all the main issues.

He said there had been agreement on the proportional electoral system and government representation in the election commission, adding that the groups were moving towards a consensus on other difficult issues.

Other key sticking points in the debate have been the number of seats allocated for the armed forces and membership of civil servants in the ruling Golkar party.

A special committee, comprising representatives from the three official political parties and members of the armed forces, has been set up to speed up the debate on the political laws. The draft laws would then be put to the entire parliament for approval.

Hopes riding on the election

Habibie
B.J. Habibie  

The elections are at the heart of sweeping economic and political reforms promised by President B.J. Habibie when he replaced the autocratic Suharto.

Many are pinning their hopes on the election to usher in an era of greater democracy after decades of rule by despots.

Mallarangeng warned that postponing the elections would shake Habibie's government, raising the prospect of greater chaos in the country.

"Postponing elections beyond June would be dangerous as some groups and people would then ask Habibie to step down. These people tolerated Habibie because they thought he was serious about holding elections," he said.

He said although the delay in passing legislation was the fault of parliamentarians, not Habibie, people would hold the president responsible.

"And if Habibie goes down without elections, what mechanism do we have to replace him?" he said.

Social unrest has flared across the country which many have blamed on the deepening economic crisis as well as political elites instigating violence as they jockey for power.

In the event of a vacuum left by the sudden departure of Habibie, the constitution states that the country would be run by a triumvirate comprising the Ministers of Home Affairs, Foreign Affairs and Defense, said Mallarangeng.

Reuters contributed to this report.

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