Indonesia has just concluded its annual legislative session by adopting reforms that could transform the nation's politics. During its two-week session, the People's Consultative Assembly agreed to ease the military out of politics and to let voters directly elect the president. These are potentially far-reaching changes, but they are only "potential" changes. Without a genuine democratic culture, the new arrangements will only render old relationships invisible and harder to check.
Change was expected at this year's session and the legislators did not disappoint. The legislature voted by acclamation to abolish by 2004 the 38 seats reserved for the military in the assembly. Former President Suharto guaranteed the security forces a presence in the legislature when he seized power in the 1960s. That role helped backstop the idea that the military was an essential element of the Indonesian political system and its civil society.
Even after the democratic uprising in 1998 that drove Mr. Suharto from office, the military protected its role and its presence in the new constitution. That document called for the military to retreat from politics by 2009, but there were doubts about the viability of that timetable. It is to Indonesia's credit that last week's vote moved the schedule forward, not back.