House members make little progress: Journalists' forum<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): The 500-member House of Representatives which
\nwas sworn in just over a year ago has produced little concrete
\nprogress despite its rambunctious and open legislative debates.<\/p>\n
Such was the conclusion and criticism of the Mass
\nCommunications Forum (FKM), an organization which brings together
\njournalists who cover the daily activities of the House.<\/p>\n
In a meeting here on Tuesday to evaluate the House's
\nperformance, the Forum said the House, together with the People's
\nConsultative Assembly, had succeeded in retaking \"the political
\ncrown\" from the executive body but in many cases the legislative
\nbody failed to fulfill its functions and tasks.<\/p>\n
Sulistyo, chairman of the forum, welcomed the legislature's
\nnewfound empowerment, but said that the added clout has yet to be
\ntranslated into concrete results.<\/p>\n
\"Over the last year, the House has been too busy politicking
\nand concentrating on its control function while ignoring many
\nother important tasks,\" he said.<\/p>\n
The evaluation was based on inputs from journalists grouped in
\nthe forum.<\/p>\n
Sulistyo noted that the legislative body has passed only 14
\nlaws in comparison to the 116 bills submitted to the House,
\nadding that the Forum was also pessimistic that the legislative
\nbody could reach its target of producing 300 laws by the end of
\nits term in 2004.<\/p>\n
Sulistyo further pointed out that while the House has
\nfrequently criticized the government, it itself had failed to
\ntake political decisions in respect of the exercise of its
\ncontrol function.<\/p>\n
He said that the factions continue to be indecisive as many of
\nthe political issues debated in the House were taken up at the
\npersonal initiative of legislators themselves.<\/p>\n
Suradi, the forum's secretary general, meanwhile questioned
\nthe legislators' commitment to complying with the House's
\ninternal rules, especially concerning their attendance at
\ncommission hearings.<\/p>\n
\"According to data from the House's secretariat general, at
\nleast 13 legislators from various factions have not attended
\ncommission hearings over the last three months (August, September
\nand October) for no clear reasons while no action has been taken
\nagainst them,\" he said.<\/p>\n
The 13 included Vice President Megawati Soekarnoputri's
\nhusband Taufiq Kiemas and Abdul Madjid, both from the Indonesian
\nDemocratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan) faction, Slamet
\nEffendy Yusuf of the Golkar Party faction, Amien Rais of the
\nreform faction and Matori Abdul Djalil of the National Awakening
\nParty (PKB) faction.<\/p>\n
\"The legislators' constituents would certainly be disappointed
\nif they knew about this,\" Suradi added. (rms)<\/p>",
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