DPR and professionalism

DPR and professionalism

From Merdeka

Members of society have expressed in this newspaper their various expectations of House of Representatives members (DPR). Some honestly expect House members will perform well, others are pessimistic about this, and still others express skepticism about legislators. The following is not my expectations of the new House members.

What I wish to express here is what factors have made our legislators active or inactive, daring or otherwise and professional or unprofessional. In my opinion, which is based on experience, we cannot pin too much hope on legislators as the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) is only in session once every five years to discuss the accountability report of the mandate holder, and also because members of the House are also members of the MPR.

If governance is to run well, the government/president and the House must be professional. They should not prioritize the idea of whether or not they will be reelected. What should be foremost in their minds is that in the five years of their tenure they must do their best and give the best results. In lawmaking, for example, the government should not just tell the House to draw up a law on this or that. As is the practice now, the government prepares the laws, implements them and exercises supervision over their implementation.

Each party must have a common working platform, a common target and a common working report. In this way the House could easily supervise how each ministry implements State Policy Guidelines in its respective area of duty. The same holds true in respect to the budget of each ministry.

To be a legislator, one does not have to be a former active member of a political organization. One may come from a non- governmental organization and be recruited by a contestant in the general election. The main requirement is professionalism. It means that one must devote oneself to one's own area of duty and must be able to satisfy oneself that one's work will win the recognition of others.

This professionalism is not only a prerequisite to being a legislator, but also, particularly, to being a president. A president must be professional in his skills, knowledge, attitude, behavior and leadership. In the absence of professionalism, never hope that the Indonesian people will really take pride in being Indonesian.

DJODJOK RAHARDJO

Jakarta