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