DPD's role? Empowering itself ...

DPD's role? Empowering itself ...

The Jakarta Post
Jakarta

The dream for better legislative representation appeared to have
come true when the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) agreed in
2002 to adopt a bicameral legislative system.

The creation of a new state institution, the Regional
Representatives Council (DPD), was seen as a remedy for people's
disappointment with politicians who were more concerned with
their own short-term interests than with people's aspirations.

Under the system, the DPD, which emulates the U.S. Senate,
serves as a kind of Upper House, with the House of
Representatives (DPR) as the Lower House. A joint session of both
DPD and DPR makes up the MPR, the country's highest legislative
body.

The system has been applied in federal states such as the
United States and Germany and unitary states like Japan and
France.

In the United States, each state is allocated a fixed number
of seats in the Senate, regardless the population of that state.
This is designed to ensure that smaller states are not
overshadowed by more populous ones. Seat allocation in the
Congress, on the other hand, is proportional based on population.

The bicameral system, therefore, is a method of combining the
principle of democratic equality with the principles of
federalism -- all votes are equal in the Lower House, while all
states are equal in the Upper House.

In Indonesia, each of the country's 32 provinces has four
representatives in the DPD, while seats in the House are allotted
proportionately in accordance with the population of each
province. Thus, densely populated provinces like East Java and
West Java have the most representatives in the House.

All DPD members are directly elected by the people, without
any intervention by political parties. The 128 DPD members sworn
in last Oct. 1 were directly elected in the April 5 legislative
election. As such, it could be said that DPD members have more
legitimacy than DPR members, whose election is very much
determined by political parties.

Unfortunately, however, the newly-born DPD has fallen short in
meeting public expectations. Under existing regulations, the role
of the DPD is limited to giving input to the DPR in the
deliberation of bills related to regional administration only. In
the U.S. by contrast, all bills must pass through both Houses
before they become law.

The fact that DPD has only limited power makes it an
ineffective body. The DPD has no authority to participate in the
law-making process, but it is however allowed to submit bills to
the House, especially on issues related to issues of regional
autonomy.

In the Constitution and in Law No. 22/2003 concerning the
composition of the Assembly, the DPD is reduced to secondary
status compared to the House.

DPD members are invited to attend House plenary sessions only
to hear the President deliver the draft state budget. The DPD may
provide suggestions to the House regarding certain bills relating
to the state budget and regional administration. DPD members may
submit suggestions, but are not involved in bill deliberations.

As such, the DPD appears to be a powerless institution; a
"toothless tiger" unable to fight for people's interests.

The public may have had the hope that the DPD, whose members
are not connected to any political party, would function as a
counter-balance to the House, whose members often fight only for
the interests of their parties.

Driven by the fact that the DPD only has limited power, DPD
members have started to campaign for the empowerment of their
roles and functions.

A number of experts have recommended that the 128-strong DPD
campaign for a constitutional amendment and revision to Law
No.22/2003 on the composition of legislative bodies, in order to
make it equal with the House.

The now-defunct Constitutional Commission also recommended in
its final report that the DPD be given power equal to that of the
House to make it a "real bicameral system".

Of course, this process alone will take much time and will act
as a distraction for DPD members, leading them to neglect their
main duties.