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

DPR UNTIL THE END OF THE NEW ORDER IN 1992-1998:

A CHALLENGE TO THE RISE

OF DEMOCRATIZATION?

It seemed that the government tended to place the DPR as subordinate to the

state, or at least the Government’s partner in achieving the dual targets of the
New Order State: political stability and economic growth.

IN the New Order’s political blueprint, the DPR was not an autonomous
political institution. Through various instruments, the DPR was “regulat-
ed” and “controlled” by the State. In the terms of budget, for example, the
DPR did not have autonomous financial rights. The Council’s budget was
subordinated to the State Secretariat, so there was very little opportunity
for this people’s representative institution to freely design the budget and
finance its activities and needs. This meant that the political activity of
the Council was highly dependent on the state, so there was relatively
little chance of taking a different stance.

This tendency to place the DPR more as a “partner” of the state was also
reflected in the membership structure and recruitment mechanism of the
DPR members. Apart from the elected members, the President also had
the authority to appoint 100 people (20 percent) as members of ABRI.
Meanwhile the elected members of the Council were not representatives
of the people in the true sense. Candidates were determined by the
central board of socio-political organizations and controlled by elements
of the state, bureaucracy, and military through the special research
mechanism.

So, many DPR members were not critical of the government because
they were being held hostage. However, for the period of 1992-1998,
there began to be a bit of movement from critical members. This was
due to several things. First, the breakdown of good relations between the
President and the military, especially since a civilian figure was elected
the first time as Chairman of Golkar, namely Harmoko, through the 1993
Functional Groups National Meeting. Second, internal divisions within

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