Vaudine England, Jakarta – The highest legislative body ends a remarkably peaceful annual session today, having achieved little more than deeper public disenchantment and an agreement to talk again.

But the return of the People's Consultative Assembly, known as the MPR, to an arena of debate is a positive development for some observers, compared to past sessions that focused on deposing the president of the day.

The key issue this week was whether Indonesians would have a chance to directly elect their president and vice-president at the next scheduled election in 2004. Broad agreement was reached for direct elections, in which a winning team achieves 51 per cent of the national vote. Division continues on how a second round would work, in the event of no clear majority.

Most politicians appear to want the second round to remain a prerogative of the MPR - marking little change from the present system under which the 700 members choose the president on behalf of 210 million people.

Analysts had predicted the political elite was unlikely to choose to limit its own power – after all, the MPR has deposed three presidents in a row, Suharto, Habibie and Wahid.

But others say the argument is not so simple. While many MPR members are working out of self-interest, there remain legitimate differences in defining the MPR's role. "The good thing is that nobody knows which voting system will benefit which party. It would make sense for the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle [PDI-P] to want a direct vote, but they are against it. And Golkar has been backing direct elections when it doesn't even have a candidate," political analyst Marcus Mietzner said.

"This shows the debate is not only about vested interests ... In Indonesia, whenever there are crucial matters to decide, there is a tendency to postpone them until the last minute. And the deadline for the constitutional amendments is not until next year. So in my view, nothing will be decided this time."

Far from being a sign of the MPR self-aggrandising and wasting time and money, its revival as a place for serious discussion is a good sign to some. "This is what annual sessions should be about. The last three sessions were all about who would be president or get which committee. Now they can get back to focusing on structural issues," Mr Mietzner said.

Agreement has been reached on the formation of a constitutional court, comprising "statesmanlike" personalities, and on the formation of a council of regional deputies, but the status and role of the latter remains mired in debate.

Late yesterday, members were to choose whether the amendments should be voted on now or delayed until next year. "This session has been more sluggish than I hoped," said Jacob Tobing, of the PDI-P, chairman of the committee handling the constitutional amendments. "This is the typical final pace of a process, when things get slower and more complicated. We are not actually in deadlock. We still have alternatives to be discussed tonight."

Public opposition to the MPR has diminished significantly this year, with almost no demonstrations. The only violence seen was fisticuffs among members on the first day. But views from the Jakarta Post suggest the sight of members spending state money to talk among themselves impresses few. "They live in an ivory tower, ignoring what the people really want," said Joko Ardi Ambawang, a legislator from Bandung.