A hope from the House

A hope from the House

From Tempo

Finally, the General Elections Commission (KPU) has announced the 678 new legislators who will sit in the House of Representatives (DPR) and Regional Councils (DPD) for the 2004- 2009 term. Comprising 550 DPR members and 128 regional councillors respectively, they will also take their seats in the People's Consultative Assembly.

With a stronger mandate, these new faces will play a prominent role in Indonesian politics in the next five years. Beside the DPR and DPD, 1,780 provincial councils and 13,525 local councils will become political actors in their regions.

People are now waiting for real action, as they were promised in the last campaign. People hope that these new faces will bring about a change for the better after seeing the poor performance of previous councillors who had low moral, intellectual and spiritual integrity.

So, to meet the expectations of the public, the new councillors should prepare themselves as best they can. They should not opt for short-term advantage or behave opportunistically for the sake of wealth or popularity.

ARYO SETYAKI Jakarta