Legislators or politicians?<\/p>\n
The petition calling for an inquiry into President Megawati
\nSoekarnoputri's decision to attend the birth of East Timor last
\nmonth is another grim illustration of how most of our elected
\nrepresentatives need to elevate themselves from being a bunch of
\nopportunistic politicians who have nothing else better to do with
\ntheir time. In spite of the tight legislative agenda of the House
\nof Representatives, and in spite of repeatedly failing to keep to
\nits schedule, these elected representatives prefer to squander
\ntheir time and resources playing power politics, rather than do
\ntheir work as legislators.<\/p>\n
The petition, signed by 31 House members and filed with the
\nHouse leadership last week, calls for an inquiry into why
\nPresident Megawati went ahead with her visit to East Timor on May
\n19 and May 20 despite objections from some House members. A week
\nearlier, the House decided to pursue an investigation into
\nMegawati's decision to grant Rp 30 billion, taken from the
\npresidential aid funds (Banpres), to help renovate dilapidated
\nmilitary barracks throughout Indonesia.<\/p>\n
These two planned inquiries follow closely on the heels of
\nanother debate within the House about a probe into the scandal at
\nthe State Logistics Agency (Bulog), involving House Speaker Akbar
\nTandjung. After eight months of lengthy debates, the House still
\ncannot come to an agreement whether or not to probe Buloggate II.
\nWith two more inquiries on the agenda, we can be sure that House
\nmembers will be even busier wrestling each other in the coming
\nmonths.<\/p>\n
This raises the following questions: Do they have time for
\nanything else? What about the House's legislative agenda? What
\nabout the many bills that have been left pending because the
\nHouse has been too busy playing with power politics instead of
\nconducting their work as legislators? What about national
\nreforms?<\/p>\n
When the nation held its first democratic elections in four
\ndecades in 1999, it was with the highest expectation that elected
\npoliticians would spend a great portion of their time
\ndeliberating and enacting new laws. Given the nation's concerns
\nfor a complete overhaul of the way the country is managed, we
\nassumed that legislation would be their main job.<\/p>\n
The goal of turning the nation into a more humane and
\nprosperous civil society hinges to a large extent on the House's
\nability to enact new laws in just about every field that is
\nnecessary, not only to correct past mistakes, but also to allow
\nthe nation to build a sound future. It is no exaggeration to
\nstate that half of all the problems this country is dealing with
\ntoday -- and let's face it, we do have many serious problems --
\ncould be resolved if we only had stronger and effective laws.<\/p>\n
Since the task of making laws is in the hands of the House of
\nRepresentatives, its success or failure, or the pace of reforms,
\nis really in the hands of our politicians who were elected into
\nthe House in 1999. If reforms appear to have stalled, then we
\nknow where the problem lies.<\/p>\n
The House has been engaging in the politics of a power
\nstruggle virtually from the start of its formation in October
\n1999. It spent so much time and resources fighting President
\nAbdurrahman Wahid until he was impeached in July last year. Since
\nthen, it has spared no effort in undermining the leadership of
\nPresident Megawati, whenever the opportunity presents itself.<\/p>\n
In contrast, the House's performance in enacting new laws has
\nbeen abysmal. In the last working session between January and
\nApril, the House managed to deliberate and endorse only six new
\nlaws out of the targeted 16. In the current working session, it
\nhas given itself a target of endorsing 22 new laws, including the
\n10 carried over from the last session. As we are halfway through
\nthe session, we know that the House will fail to meet its stated
\ntarget again.<\/p>\n
The House of Representatives for the 1998-1999 period (during
\nB.J. Habibie's presidency) is remembered as setting a record for
\nthe highest number of laws enacted. But because they were all
\nrushed jobs, many of these laws had to be repealed and reviewed.
\nThe 1999-2004 House of Representatives will probably break a new
\nrecord for the lowest number of legislations passed. And some of
\nthese new laws were just as poorly deliberated.<\/p>\n
Somehow, we do not know which is worse. But we do know the
\npoor caliber of our elected politicians. They still have to earn
\ntheir title as legislators, the office they were elected to.<\/p>",
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