Criticism is needed: Wahono

JAKARTA (JP): Back from a one-month recess, the House of Representatives is eager to begin hearings and take aim at what it sees as a low level of integrity in certain government officials.

House of Representatives speaker Wahono said yesterday that as a "moral force" representing the people, the House has a responsibility to help correct government behavior.

"Criticism and correction of the bureaucrats' low level of morality is necessary, otherwise the nation will be full of hypocrisy," he said when opening a new House session.

In an unusually strong statement, Wahono said that bureaucrats of low integrity will only move the nation away from the values inherent in the state ideology Pancasila.

The House speaker called on the press to help promote more transparent governance by encouraging the public to question the policies and decisions made by state institutions.

If this form of social control works, the institutions will perform better and recapture the public's trust, Wahono said without specifying which institutions.

It is understood, however, that he was partially referring to the House itself, which is largely regarded as a rubber stamp institution for a perceived inability to defend the people's interests.

The Supreme Court has also been rocked by an allegation that its senior judges accepted bribes from a defendant on trial last year for falsifying property documents.

Wahono said the mass media should try to help restore the public's trust in both the executive and legislative branches.

"It's time the mass media communicate what the executive, legislative and even the judicial bodies are doing as transparently as possible," Wahono said.

Wahono was responding to a comment by President Soeharto, who recently lamented the growing lack of respect for the 500-seat legislative body currently dominated by politicians from the ruling political organization, Golkar.

Wahono said he is aware of the perception that the House serves little function despite the 1945 Constitution, which states that the executive and legislative bodies should have equal standing.

He acknowledged that the executive body has strong control over the House and that it dominates the state budget making process by co-opting practically all of the factions that make up the legislative body.

The House is comprised of four factions: Golkar with 282 seats, the United Development Party with 62 seats, the Indonesian Democratic Party with 56 seats and the Armed Forces, which is given 100 seats.

"The executive body's strong control of the political factions has obviously suppressed House initiative," he said.

In the final analysis, he said, the state institutions basically depend solely on the executive body's political goodwill. (pan)

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