Jakarta – The chiefs of the six highest state institutions disagree with Home Minister Gamawan Fauzi's proposal to reinstate a clause in the Regional Autonomy Law that would demand candidates in regional elections meet certain moral standards.
Irman Gusman of the Regional Representatives Council (DPD), Taufik Kiemas of the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR), Marzuki Alie of the House of Representatives (DPR), Mahfud M.D. of the Constitutional Court (MK), Busyro Muqoddas of the Judicial Commission (KY) and Hadi Purnomo of the Supreme Audit Agency (BPK) gathered in an informal meeting at Graha Bimasena in Jakarta on Thursday.
They issued a joint statement that said moral requirements should not be included in the law because it was difficult to define what was moral and what wasn't.
"What does 'morally tainted' mean? Does that refer to people who commit adultery, or only to those whose adultery scandals are uncovered?" it said.
The statement said the government should let the public decide if a regional leader candidate had a good moral standing or not. "Let the people choose. They would never choose a candidate with a bad moral standing," it said.
The six chiefs acknowledged that the home minister would want to ensure that the regional elections produced good governors. "Sometimes, if something good is formally regulated, it will have a bad ending," they said.
The proposal has sparked controversy, with critics saying the home minister was singling out certain high-profile candidates, including celebrities Julia Perez and Maria Eva, while failing to address other issues such as corruption.
The 2004 Regional Autonomy Law stipulated regional leaders meet certain moral requirements, but the 2008 amendment to the law removed this article. New amendments are scheduled to be deliberated by the House of Representatives this year.
Mahfud M.D. said that this year's regional elections should demand regional leaders meet moral standards. The country will stage 246 regional elections this year. "Constitutionally, no such regulation exists currently," he said.
He said it would take a long time to amend the Regional Autonomy Law to reinstate the clause on morality. He said that the legal procedure obligated the DPR and the DPD to make an academic draft and then inform the public.
"I predict that the amendment will take longer than three years [to be passed]," Mahfud said. The DPD hosted the meeting to increase communication between the highest state institutions.
The chairman of the DPD, Irman Gusman, said the meeting was held to discuss the country's current issues, but not to make formal conclusions. "We will let each institution follow up the results of the meeting according to its own policy," he told reporters.
He said that communication between the highest state institutions was poor and that he expected the meeting to improve mutual understanding among so that they could better tackle the country's problems.
"Communication among the institutions must be strengthened because the country is facing many serious problems at the moment," he said.
The meeting discussed six other issues: Finance Minister Sri Mulyani's resignation, the judicial mafia, corruption and bribery at the tax office, the national exam, bureaucratic reform and this year's regional elections.
Another meeting scheduled at the MPR office will invite President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, who is expected to improve the check and balance system used by executives, the legislature and judicial institutions.