Scholar urges empowering of House of Representatives<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): The House of Representatives should be empowered
\nwith the authority to hold cabinet ministers responsible for any
\nmismanagement, a scholar proposed yesterday.<\/p>\n
Nurcholish Madjid said it was high time there was a mechanism
\nfor holding cabinet ministers publicly accountable for what they
\ndo, including any misconduct or mismanagement of their
\ndepartments.<\/p>\n
"I suggest the control mechanism be the House of
\nRepresentatives," he said at a discussion held by the Center for
\nInformation and Development Studies.<\/p>\n
In the United States, the President, the parliament and
\nCongress, all have the authority to control and hold ministers
\naccountable for their actions.<\/p>\n
Nurcholish said it might be a good idea if ministers, who
\nfailed to fulfill expectations, resigned from their posts.<\/p>\n
In support of Nurcholish's opinion, legal expert Baharuddin
\nLopa cited practices in Britain, where parliament could dismiss
\ncabinet ministers for failing to do their job.<\/p>\n
The performance of the Indonesian cabinet ministers has been
\nunder public scrutiny following reports that the Minister of
\nMines and Energy I.B. Sudjana had ordered a transfer of funds
\nfrom state-owned coal mining company PT Tambang Batubara Bukit
\nAsam into his personal bank account.<\/p>\n
As House members grilled him over the transfer, President
\nSoeharto declared the transfer of the coal funds would be
\nreturned to the rightful owner and that the minister had come out
\nclean.<\/p>\n
In January, Minister of Transportation Haryanto Dhanutirto was
\nalso cleared of alleged corruption after the President declared
\nthere had been "administrative" mistakes on the part of the
\nminister.<\/p>\n
Nurcholish said a stronger House of Representatives would
\nimprove the government's performance.<\/p>\n
"Currently, the House is unable to properly perform its
\nsupervision duties because members represent their respective
\npolitical organizations rather than the people," he said.<\/p>\n
It is close to impossible to expect they will be able to
\ncontrol government officials because the House is dominated by
\nthe government's Golkar faction, according to Nurcholish.<\/p>\n
"They cannot reveal the truth behind what they have see and
\nhear," he said.<\/p>\n
Nurcholish is well-known as an ardent critic of the
\nproportional system in the general election, in which people vote
\nfor political organizations.<\/p>\n
He reiterated his proposal yesterday for the system to be
\nreplaced with a 'district" system in which people vote for the
\nfigures they believe would best defend their interests.<\/p>\n
The district system, he argued, would ensure House members
\nwere committed to defending their voters rather than the
\npolitical organizations they were affiliated to.<\/p>\n
"Under the district system, it is the people who have the
\nauthority to dismiss a House member they think is incompetent,"
\nhe said. (imn)<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/scholar-urges-empowering-of-house-of-representatives-1447893297",
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