Devi Asmarani and Robert Go, Jakarta – No fire on the streets and smaller fireworks than expected in Indonesia's parliament complex. The first annual session of the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) ended with an anti-climax yesterday with the last tap of Speaker Amien Rais' gavel.

For months anticipated as a major test of President Abdurrahman Wahid's grip on power, the MPR session produced few ground breaking decisions.

But despite the negative report card legislators issued for the 10-month-old administration's achievements, the Assembly also facilitated political compromises, which perhaps promise some stability for the near future.

This at least is the hope of many observers, who say that only political stability can spur economic recovery and entrench the country's fledgling democratic roots.

In substantive terms, the MPR passed 10 decrees yesterday, not all meaningful, but an impressive start.

President vs the assembly

After months of bitter skirmishes between President and parliament, it was feared that radical legislators would use this MPR session to initiate impeachment procedures, plunging the country into further turmoil. How did the battle royale fizzle out? The President apologised profusely for his administration's shortcomings. He also pledged to give more power to Vice-President Megawati Sukarnoputri. The MPR ordered Mr Abdurrahman to back this up with a separate presidential decree elucidating her new tasks.

The Assembly adopted a twin-track mechanism for impeachment procedures against an errant president. Not only can Parliament call a special session of the MPR to take the president to task, but the MPR too can call for such a special session during its annual meetings.

Military vs civil supremacy

Many of today's political parties won parliamentary seats with pledges to send the military back to the barracks, if not now, then by the year 2004. But in what appeared to be a necessary compromise given the current fragility of national stability, the MPR decided to let the military keep its 38 seats there until the year 2009. But it also made sure the military knew what its primary duties were.

The MPR approved the structural separation of the police from the armed forces, with the former responsible for maintaining order, the people's safety and the supremacy of the law. The responsibilities of the Indonesian Defence Force (TNI) were defined as the defence of the country and protection of national unity.

All executive decisions affecting security issues now require parliamentary approval, although the TNI commander and the police chief remain accountable to the president only.

Back to the backburner

One of the Assembly's most significant agenda items was to amend the 1945 Constitution, but it only managed to deliberate on 12 of the 20 chapters suggested by a preparatory commission last month. In the end, only seven of these chapters passed through the MPR this year with the rest deferred to next year's session.

These were put on the backburner: Direct presidential election: Most major political parties wanted the president to be elected by the entire electorate with a simple majority. But Vice-President Megawati's Indonesian Democratic Party-Struggle (PDI-P) blocked the proposed amendment over concerns that the president in such a system would then be too powerful.

Institution of Islamic law for Muslims: Known as the Jakarta Charter, seven words requiring Muslims to obey strict Syariah law were excised from the original constitutional draft 50 years ago for the sake of maintaining a secular and united Indonesia.

During this MPR session, two Muslim factions supported the charter's reinstitution. The issue, however, was deemed "too sensitive" for a vote at this time.

The independence of state agencies including the Supreme Court, the Attorney-General's office, the Central Bank and the State Accounting Agency: In order to prevent improper manipulation of state agencies by the administration, some legislators proposed amendments specifically stipulating their independence.

There was also a novel proposal to introduce more regional representation into Indonesia's law making bodies in keeping with the country's political and fiscal decentralisation programmes, which are to kick in in January.

The amendment would have turned the MPR into a bicameral assembly with one house consisting of representatives from Indonesia's provinces and the other elected legislators from the House of Representatives.