Anton Aliabbas, Jakarta – The chairperson of the People’s Representative Assembly (DPR), Akbar Tanjung, has said that there is no need to be concerned about the decision by the Constitutional Court which allows ex-members of the Indonesian Communist Party (PKI) to become legislative candidates.

Jakarta – Provisional People’s Consultative Assembly (MPRS) Decree Number XXV/1966 cannot in any way be the basis for Article 60 sub-section (g) of Law Number 12/2003 on the general elections. This is because the MPRS decree only specifies that the Indonesian Communist Party (PKI) is a banned organisation.

The greatest obstacle to upholding the law in Indonesia is located in the capacity and resoluteness of law enforcement agencies in the enforcement of legislation, rather than the need to compliment or clarify existing legal instruments.

MPRS Decree Number XXV/1966 on the Dissolution of the Indonesian Communist Party and Prohibitions on Marxist, Leninist and Communist Teachings is still being maintained as law. However for the families who have been affected by this “collective sin” as a result of this decree, the issue is not one of the decree being revoked or not(1).

Getting rid of a bad image which has long been planted in the minds of society is not an easy matter. The polemic over the issue of the revoking of MPRS Decree Number XXV/1996 on the Dissolution of the Indonesian Communist Party and Prohibitions on Marxist, Leninist and Communist Teachings has yet to end.