1st March 2003:
Once President Try Sutrisno had departed for the Presidential Palace and after break, the 2003 MPR General Session got under way again in the afternoon. The first order of business was housekeeping with the MPR Delegates being organized into the two commissions. Commission A will focus on the Accountability Address and its related matters while Commission B will focus on matters related the resolutions the MPR was preparing. Once the commissions were formed and had had their first meetings to agree on what would be on the agenda, that was it for the first day of the MPR Session.
As she arrived back at Grand Hyatt Hotel where the PKPB’s MPR Delegates were staying, the cameras and reporters surrounded Chairwoman of the PKPB Tutut Soeharto. She initially smiled, laughed and looked thoughtful when asked how she felt going into the MPR General Session.
“Well, I come better prepared than I did last time”, replied Tutut “Last time I was novice, this time I have the experience of having led a political party to an election victory.”
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Across the road at the President Hotel where the PNI’s MPR Delegates were staying, much was made of the hotel’s name being a good sign. Chairwoman of the PNI Megawati Soekarnoputri only smiled saying that the PNI had to make its own luck.
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Much of the attention as the first day of the MPR General Session wrapped up was focused on the Group Delegates and the Regional Delegates. The Group Delegates returned to the Hotel Borobudur and proceeded to go behind closed doors to have a meeting attended by all of its delegates. The same went with the Regional Delegates once they returned to Shangri-La Hotel.
Unlike 4 political parties and ABRI, the Group and Regional Delegates were more a collection of individuals rather than a group representing a certain organization and the meetings were seen as a way to establish a common ground on how to best approach the MPR General Session.
2nd March 2003:
The MPR was in full flow today. Commission A spent until lunchtime talking about the various delegations’ reaction to the President’s Accountability Address. The Group Delegates, represented by Garibaldi Thohir, acknowledged “significant improvements” over the last 5 years but refused to say anything explicitly positive or negative about the President. Representing the Regional Delegates, Lefrand Sondakh from North Sulawesi, spoke that development is still largely java-centric but that “admittedly”, development has become more equitable.
The ABRI Delegates’ response was read by Romulo Simbolon which focused on the defense and military aspect saying that ABRI needed to be and will be more professional in the future. The PPP’s response was read out by Uray Faisal Hamid. The PPP noticeably focused on things that still needed to be improved upon though it was remarked that they sounded like they did not want to pay a compliment to the President.
The PNI deployed Andi Arief and he read that while the PNI “agrees” with the divestment of Freeport shares as well as Tommy Soeharto’s sentencing/prison sentence, the PNI believes that the current political system was in need of an overhaul. Nevertheless, the PNI declares its acceptance, though with reservations, of the President’s Accountability Address.
Then came the clash the everyone was waiting for. First, Soeyono represented the PKPI. He spoke at length though the PKPI’s conclusion was beyond doubt: that the PKPI wholeheartedly accepts the Accountability Address and wholeheartedly supports the President’s re-election. This was followed by the PKPB’s Yusril Ihza Mahendra listing the various “failings of the current government” before wrapping things up with the following conclusion:
“I believe that when the MPR votes on whether or not to accept the President’s Accountability Address, such a vote should be deemed as a vote of confidence or no confidence depending on the result” said Yusril “And in the event that the President’s Accountability Address is not accepted, it should be treated as a vote of no confidence and the President should not be allowed to renominate for office.”
That got the PKPI MPR Delegates riled up and yelling at Yusril.
Away from Commission A’s rowdy environment, Commission B’s meeting was calm and business-like though it was not without its own complications. Commission B’s purview were the resolutions the MPR was preparing and that included the Proposed Amendment to the MPR Resolution Regarding Procedures for Nominating and Electing the President and Vice President which regulated how the Presidential and Vice Presidential Election was to be conducted. When it came time to discuss this proposed resolution, Vice Chairman of the MPR Mario Carrascalao, who presided over Commission B, reported a proposal related to this draft resolution it at length. He said that when the MPR’s Standing Committee was preparing the MPR General Session, this was a proposal which had originated with the PNI Delegation and that given its contents, this was something best approved by the MPR General Session rather than approved immediately by the MPR Standing Committee.
Speaking on behalf of the PNI Delegation when Comission B’s meeting broke up, Sidarto Danusubroto, confirmed that the draft resolution had originated with the PNI in a bid to make “things more democratic”.
Not far from where Sidarto was speaking, Megawati’s husband Taufiq Kiemas was seen arguing with Chairman of the PNI’s MPR Delegation Sutjipto.
“My wife has a long shot, I get that”, said Taufiq “But this is how that long shot is going to play out if she’s going to be the next president.”
“I’m just asking whether this will play well with our crowd”, insisted Sutjipto.
“And I’m asking whether they want to win or they want to continue to watch from the sidelines”, countered Taufiq.
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Using the MPR’s Media Room, Chairman of the Group Delegates Nurcholish Madjid held a press conference. He was accompanied by fellow Group Delegates Members Bomer Pasaribu, Aburizal Bakrie, Sahal Mahfudh, Parni Hadi, and Sri Edi Swasono.
Nurcholish said in his speech that the members of the Group Delegates are present in the MPR General Session to represent a component of Indonesian life. He used himself and those who were with him as examples saying that they represented Islamic intellectuals, the only recognized trade union in Indonesia, the chamber of commerce of industry, Islamic clerics, journalists as well as the organization of cooperatives.
Speaking of the meeting attended by the Group Delegates’ last night, Nurcholish said that an “overwhelming majority” of those present expressed their continuing desire to carry out “The Petition of Thirty Five” which was signed last year and remain above the partisanship that is already on display and will continue to be on display in the following days.
In practical terms, Nurcholish said, this means that the Group Delegates will abstain in any vote involving the President’s Accountability Address or in any vote relating to the Presidential Election itself. At the same time, Nurcholish said that the MPR must “strongly consider” accepting the amendment being proposed by the PNI.
Finally, Nurcholish said that he realizes that the Group Delegates is not a political party and what he is stating does not constitute a party line but is more like a “general consensus” within the mainstream of the Group Delegates.
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The afternoon session of the MPR General Session carried on from the morning session. The PKPI and the PKPB continued their battle in Commission A. On behalf of the PKPI, Hayono Isman criticized the notion of there being a vote of no confidence saying that such notions belonged to a parliamentary democracy not Pancasila Democracy. On behalf of the PKPB, Fuad Bawazier said that if “the failure is clear and obvious then President Try should not only lose the presidency, he should not be allowed to nominate in the first place”. Once again this caused an uproar in Commission A.
In Commission B, there was a consensus by the other delegates that the PNI’s proposed amendment on the way the Presidential and Vice Presidential Election to be conducted needed to be further studied.
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When all the dinner plates were taken out it was time for President Try Sutrisno to hold his meeting at the Presidential Palace. Assembled in front of him were a group of PKPI MPR Delegates: Harsudiono Hartas, Edi Sudrajat, Soeyono, Marzuki Darusman, Oka Mahendra, and Indra Bambang Utoyo. The meeting discussed the day’s two MPR Commissions’ meeting.
There was outrage around the table when the discussion was about Commission A’s meeting, the consensus being that this was an unabashed attempt at making sure that the President “doesn’t even make it to the start line”.
“If it does come down to a vote and said vote will be considered to be a vote of confidence” said the President “Then we’ll need all hands on deck and that means making sure we have all of the PPP’s votes.”
“And yet the one thing we’re most certain about going into the MPR General Session is that we can’t rely on getting all of the PPP’s votes, Mr. President”, said Soeyono.
“Matori needs to do something to get them in order” asked Edi, mentioning the Chairman of the MPR who also happened to be the Chairman of the PPP.
“Matori’s too busy doing “Chairman of the MPR” stuff and it probably won’t do him much good to look partisan during the General Session”, retorted Harsudiono “That’s why on a practical level, he needed to appoint someone as the PPP’s Day-To-Day Chairman in addition to give a reason for Hamzah to behave.”
“Except Hamzah’s not behaving”, countered Edi.
When it came time to discuss Commission B’s meeting, a copy of the Proposed Amendment to the MPR Resolution Regarding Procedures for Nominating and Electing the President and Vice President was produced and the President read it over. Maybe because his future was on the line, President’s eyes began to glaze over. He continued reading but stopped just as he got to the part about how if the none of the two presidential candidates has a majority of votes in the MPR after three rounds, new candidates for the presidency would have to be nominated.
“Someone needs to explain to me what’s being proposed here in a language I can understand”, said the President.
There was quiet in the room before Marzuki took up the challenge.
“The current MPR Resolution Regarding the Procedures for Nominating and Electing the President and Vice President, which was first passed in 1973, which was then amended and then used in 1998 when you won against Habibie, Tutut, and Harmoko, states that if there were two candidates or if the election has come down to the final two candidates, whoever gets the most votes is elected president without there being a need for a majority”, explained Marzuki.
The President looked at him blankly.
“In 1998, Mr. President, you won against Habibie in the final round of voting with 503 votes to his 497”, continued Marzuki “But if for some reason, you didn’t get 503. Suppose there were 4 abstentions and the result was 499 votes for you, 497 votes for him, and 4 abstentions, you would still be elected.”
“On the other hand, Mr. President”, added Oka “You could not claim that you were elected based on a majority of votes in the MPR and this is where this proposed amendment comes in; what this proposed amendment wants to do is that in the event of there being two candidates, a candidate must have 50% of the votes + 1 to be declared elected, that’s 501 votes.”
“That’s only fair, right?” asked the President
“Fair, Mr. President, but makes it more imperative for us to look around outside of the PKPI, PPP, and ABRI delegations for votes”, replied Harsudiono.
“Can’t we just try to block this proposition?” asked Edi.
“We’ll look like we’re trying to sneak the President into re-election if we even show a hint of interest in blocking this, Mr. State Secretary”, explained Soeyono.
There was silence in the room.
“What does the PKPB think about this?” asked the President.
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“This makes things complicated”, raged Chairman of the PKPB’s MPR Delegation Prabowo Subianto “If we try to get in the way, we’ll look like we’re trying to get you elected without a majority.”
“Calm down, calm down” Tutut said “There must be some other way.”
Secretary of the PKPB ZA Maulani, Treasurer of the PKPB Akbar Tandjung along with MPR Delegates Yusril Ihza Mahendra, Theo Sambuaga, Bambang Trihatmodjo, and Subijakto Tjakrawerdaya watched on.
“Suppose we forget about how things will look like and just work together with the PKPI on this. They’ll be interested in this if they want to give Try a better shot at being re-elected” asked ZA Maulani “The PPP and ABRI will vote for the PKPI, our combined total will be enough to kill this proposal even if the Regional Delegates and the Group Delegates want to vote in favor of it.”
“But they’re certain to ask us to withdraw what we proposed earlier in the day about the vote on the Accountability Address being a vote of confidence or no confidence”, said Akbar.
Tutut took some time thinking about it and then she shook her head.
“That won’t do”, said Tutut “Keep maintaining that the vote on the Accountability Address will double as a vote of confidence as we have agreed.”
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The thing to note is that in OTL, MPR General Session was a formality. Soeharto's Accountability Address would be readily accepted and in the presidential elections, he would be elected unanimously by virtue of being the sole candidate.
An OTL example of the Accountability Address functioning as a vote of confidence came when Habibie delivered his Accountability Address in 1999 to the MPR where said speech was then rejected and then in response, Habibie decided to withdraw his candidacy as president paving the way for Wahid to come to power. Further back in the past, Sukarno infamously made two accountability addresses to explain his actions post-G30S and had both rejected and this played a part in him being removed from power.
The whole "if there is only two presidential candidates and none obtains more than half the votes, then the one with the most votes is declared the winner" is true. Check out article 16 of this MPR Resolution (
https://www.hukumonline.com/pusatda...f0/ketetapan-mpr-nomor-ii-mpr-1973-tahun-1973). Note that ITTL, this Resolution has already been amended in 1998 to accommodate the four-way between Try, Habibie, Tutut, and Harmoko (Anybody remember that?) though the rule that in a contest between two candidates, someone can be declared a winner without gaining more than half the votes is still in play. That the PNI is the one to push for this amendment will be important.
