Jakarta – The government is ready to submit to parliament three draft bills on political parties, elections and the legislature in post-Suharto Indonesia, State Secretary Akbar Tanjung said Monday. "The draft bills on politics have reached their final phase and in the near future, in the next few days, will be submitted to parliament," Tanjung said, "God willing, we will send three political draft bills, the first on political parties, the second on elections and the third on the composition and status of the MPR, DPR and DPRD," Tanjung added.

He was refering to the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR), the nation's highest legislative body which convenes every five years to appoint a president and vice president, the national parliament or People's Representative Council (DPR) and provincial parliaments (DPRD.) "There is not the slightest intention by the government to postpone the submission of the draft bills," Tanjung said in reply to blistering criticism by opposition politicians over the weekend that he was stalling. The bills had been initially been due to be submitted in August and several socio-political organisations have also criticised the delay.

Tanjung, who is also head of the ruling Golkar party, said the draft bill governing political parties would guarantee the people's right to organise, but set criteria for parties taking part in general elections set for next year. He citied a minimum number of chapters in provinces and branches at district level as well as the written support of a minimum number of supporters.

An astounding 80 political parties have sprouted since May when president Suharto fell from power and his vice president B.J. Habibie took over. Their recognition awaits replacement of a law restricting the number of parties to three.

Tanjung said the bill will divide the country into 420 electoral districts, half of them on densely-populated Java island. "The personality of the candidate will be more dominant in the next elections," he said. In past polls electors voted for a party, not a candidate.

Tanjung said that under the new bill, 420 members of the DPR should be directly elected, while another 75 would be part of the "proportional representation" – a central government allocation to diminish wide seat disparities between the parties. Another 55 seats will be allotted to members of the military, who do not vote in polls. The total membership of the DPR at national level would be 550 members compared to the current 500 – 425 of whom were indirectly elected through the polls and 75 appointed from the military. He did not elaborate on the membership of the MPR or DPRD.

Habibie has said that he expects the MPR membership, currently at 1,000, to be slashed by 300 seats. The MPR will be composed of the DPR membership and another 81 seats to represent the regions and 69 to represent non-political groupings, he has said.

At present the MPR is composed of the 500 DPR members, 251 presidential appointees shared by the MPR factions, 149 appointees representing the regions and 100 people picked by the president to represent non-political groupings.

Under Habibie's proposed timetable, the current MPR will convene in November to approve laws for the elections which will be held in May 1999. It is hoped to convene the resulting MPR before the end of next year so it can pick a president and a vice president for five years beginning January 1, 2000. Habibie has not ruled out standing for president.