Page 232 - BUKU A CENTURY OF PARLIAMENTARY LIFE IN INDONESIA

DPR-RI DURING THE NEW ORDER:
STRENGTHENING THE ROLE OF THE STATE (1967-1998)

The New Order Government’s strong response towards its critics made
the life of democracy in Indonesia highly dependent on the Government,
in this case the President. The 1982 general election took place without
too much tension.

Like the DPR in the two previous periods, the DPR during the period of
1982-1987 was also produced through general elections, namely on Tues-
day, 4 May 1982. A new development in the implementation of the gen-
eral election at that time was the election in the province of East Timor,
which in the 1977 general election had not been included because it had
only been integrated with Indonesia on 17 July 1976.

In addition, on 12 August 1981 an institution known as the Election Super-
visory Committee (Panwaslak) was formed. It was in charge of oversee-
ing the elections and minimizing fraud during the election. Panwaslak
was chaired by the Attorney General and supervised the elections for
members of the DPR, Level I DPRD, and Level II DPRD in their respec-
tive working areas. The formation of the Panwaslak only accommodated
problems raised by the public and electoral contestants instead of deal-
ing with criminal and criminal issues related to elections. After the Pan-
waslak was formed, all political party protests could be resolved through
a deliberative mechanism.

Elections are an important principle in the sustainability of the demo-
cratic system of a country. In a democratic country, elections are an im-
portant channel for the people’s political sovereignty because the people
can make their political decisions. Elections then began to become a pe-
riodical political agenda that had been routinely carried out in Indonesia
since the New Order era. The 1987 general election was the 4 general
th
election held at this time. Elections were held on 23 April 1987 simultane-
ously in all regions of Indonesia to elect members of the legislature for
the period 1987-1992.

The institution authorized to hold general elections is the General Elec-
tions Institution. The membership structure of the General Elections In-
stitution was mostly filled by individuals from the inner circles of the Go-
vernment. The institution was headed by the Minister of Home Affairs
who was appointed by the President.

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