Bill on legislative composition shows more reform flaws
Berni K. Moestafa, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The bill on the composition of the legislative bodies, a follow- on from last year's amendments to the 1945 Constitution, demonstrates the weaknesses that critics warned would result from what they said were half-hearted constitutional changes.
Although hailed as a milestone in the much-vaunted, four-year old reform effort, the passage of the amendments was tainted by suspicions that the country's political elite were reluctant to share power.
Tuesday's passage of the elections bill confirmed at least one of those fears. The elections law imposes a two percent electoral threshold, thus giving the larger parties a head start in the election.
Another follow-up on the amendment, the direct presidential elections bill, could limit the list of candidates to just five -- one from each of the five biggest political parties.
Now, the bill on the composition of the legislative organs: the House of Representatives (DPR), the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR), and the Regional Representatives Council (DPD) reiterates the superiority of indirectly-elected members of political parties over directly-elected local representatives.
These three legislative institutions form the foundations for next year's general election in line with the constitutional amendments.
"We can't provide additional bodies other than those designated by the Constitution," said Golkar faction legislator Muhammad Yahya Zaini on Wednesday.
Yahya was referring to the regional representatives who will have much less authority than their counterparts in the MPR. The assembly is the country's highest law-making body.
Under the recent amendments, the MPR will be converted into a bicameral legislature consisting of the DPR and DPD. The DPD is comparable to the U.S. Senate but only in so far as both represent regions.
In the MPR, the DPD and DPR members will be equal as regards powers but not numbers. According to the new elections bill, each province shall have four representatives regardless of population size. With 30 provinces so far, the number of DPD members will amount to 120 as against 550 in the DPR.
Outside the context of the MPR, DPD members have fewer functions given to them by the amended Constitution.
And as legislator Yahya said, there is not enough leeway to increase the DPD's role through the legislative composition bill.
The bills' articles 39 and 40 outlining the DPD's role are almost exact copies of article 22C and 22D of the Constitution.
The Constitution limits the DPD's role to discussing bills that only concern local government affairs. Such bills may be related to local autonomy, the creation of new provinces, and revenue-sharing between the central and local governments.
Other countries' bicameral systems also had chambers with unequal powers, said Brawijaya University constitutional law expert Mukti Fajar.
But unlike in Indonesia, he said, directly-elected representatives had more power than indirectly-elected ones.
He explained that directly-elected representatives were more accountable compared to those who were appointed.
"In Indonesia it's a bit strange because it's more difficult to become a DPD member than a legislator, and yet the latter has more power," he said.
Analysts often link the poor performance of legislators with a lack of accountability because their parties appoint them instead of the people.
Legislators have set up a special committee to start debating the bill on the composition of the legislative bodies.
The committee is awaiting the appointment of a chairman and must first decide on mechanisms and a schedule before it can start its work.