Page 225 - BUKU A CENTURY OF PARLIAMENTARY LIFE IN INDONESIA

A CENTURY OF PARLIAMENTARY LIFE
IN INDONESIA

Third, expanding the authority of the central Government and consolidat-
ing control over the regions. The central Government placed the people
who could be controlled centrally in various local government positions.
ABRI got the highest percentage in this case.

2. Unified Armed Forces

The problem that the new government was facing is factionalism within
the armed forces. The military was divided between Sukarno’s loyalists,
Soeharto’s supporters, and regional commanders who enjoyed autono-
my. From 1966 to early 1967, Soeharto replaced the regional command-
ers with officers who favored him. This consolidation coincided with the
impediment of General A.H. Nasution, who was a senior general of the
Armed Forces. He placed General Nasution in a high but not influential
civil post, namely as Speaker of the MPRS.

3. A More Responsive Representative Body

One of the most important legislative policies was the mechanism for
recalling members from their membership in the DPR (recall). This model
of discipline allowed the political party’s central leadership to withdraw
their representatives from the DPR if they did not follow the party’s in-
structions. With this kind of mechanism, the Government controlled the
behavior of its legislators. The recall system was useful in limiting the
diversity of opinions in legislative politics. There had been no significant
changes since then. The elections in the New Order era only validated
parliamentary politics.

4. Simplifying Political Parties

According to the New Order elite, the problem with Indonesian political
parties arose because most of them were ideologically oriented, not pro-
gram-oriented, and there were too many of them. The MPRS, which was
formally the highest political institution, had determined that elections
would be held in 1968. Suharto must pay attention to the MPRS stipula-
tions on how to hold elections without compromising the Government’s
economic program. In other words, elections should give Government’s
mandates to the groups most committed to development.

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