A misleading statement

A misleading statement

Once again Home Minister Moh. Yogie SM has suffered a "mishap". Although later corrected, his statement at the House of People's Representatives (DPR), that House members are representatives not of the people but of their respective political organizations, has been sharply criticized by house members and by political experts.

We appreciate the Home Minister's attempts -- through his public relations officer -- to correct his statement. However, for the benefit of the people's political education, the statement needs examining lest it be misleading. A political expert of Gajah Mada University believes the Home Minister's statement could be dangerous because it could lead to a crisis of confidence in our parliament and in our political system. A member of the House even called Yogie's statement an act of contempt of the Constitution.

DPR is the abbreviation of Dewan Perwakilan Rakyat (House of People's Representatives). The Constitution and other laws explicitly state that members of the House represent the people.

We hope the minister's erroneous statement was merely caused by a slip of the tongue, and not by his lack of knowledge of the law. Forgive us, but it is a disgrace for anyone -- whoever it may be -- to say that DPR members are not representatives of the people, especially when viewed from the perspective of the people's political education.

-- Media Indonesia, Jakarta