Criticism is needed: Wahono
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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