Why will parties which won less than 2.5 percent of the vote not be allowed to compete again in the polls in 2014? According to the quick count results, these small parties carry the hopes of 15 to 20 percent of voters.

How can the big parties make rules that systematically exclude nearly a fifth of the electorate from representation?

Indonesia needs small parties to represent the interests of followers of minority religions, of those concerned with the environment, labor or other special issues and to provide hope of renewal and innovation.

But the majority of Muslims apparently feel that only they deserve the right to retain their own established political parties.

Perhaps more significantly, many legislators retain the old Soehartoist mentality.

They do not want the hard work of actually fulfilling people's aspirations. They would rather crush them.

Instead of combating the rise of attractive alternatives to themselves by struggling hard for the people, they would rather just abolish as many of the alternatives as possible. "So twenty million people voted for those small parties? Let's make sure they vote for us next time - by making sure they don't have any choice!"

Fortunately, up to now they have not entirely succeeded in preventing new parties from establishing a firm foundation. If they had, then Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono would not have been able to set up the Democratic Party to carry him to the presidency. And Indonesia might not have made the progress it has.

It is time to abandon the old Soehartoist myth that reducing the number of parties is a sign of progress.

Small parties may be a source of competition to the large parties, but there is no evidence that they are a source of instability. As long as they are not demanding public funds, anyone should have the right to found and sustain a political party.

The one drawback of the small parties is that ballot papers become unwieldy.

But this problem will disappear anyway if legislators adopt a more effective electoral system. For example, they could divide the country into 300 single-member constituencies. Votes of losing candidates in each constituency could be pooled according to party and the remaining DPR seats distributed proportionally. The districts for local council elections could be similarly rationalized.

Whatever the future changes to the electoral system, they should be designed to ensure the best possible representation of the people's demands and interests, not to eliminate rivals in order to shield legislators from the inconvenience of having to prove themselves competent and worthy of re-election.

John Hargreaves

Jakarta

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