Elected politicians make 2nd rate legislators

Elected politicians make 2nd rate legislators

Kurniawan Hari, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

I swear to God: That I will fulfill my duties as a member of
the House of Representatives (DPR), excellently and impartially.
That I will uphold the Pancasila state ideology, 1945 Constitution
and the laws of the country. That I will uphold democracy, dedicate
myself to the nation and the unitary state of Indonesia.
-- Oath read by members of House of Representatives before taking
office.

The behavior of our elected politicians in the House of
Representatives (DPR) in 2002 has been nothing short of
shameless.

In terms of passing legislation, they are way off target. And
in terms of discipline, they are way off base.

The politicians whom the nation elected to office in 1999 in
what amounted to the most democratic election in four decades,
have been locked in seemingly endless bickering, either between
themselves, or with the government, over the last year.

Most of the things that they did were designed largely to
serve their own personal or narrow interests. They were rarely
for the good of the nation. All this came at the expense of the
national legislative agenda, which they control.

Over the year, the House barely completed a fifth of the
legislative enactments that have been sent to its way.

Not that they were ignorant of their own shortcomings.

House Speaker Akbar Tandjung never failed to remind his DPR
colleagues at the start of every session of the need to get their
act together, be it in monitoring the government, or in debating
and passing legislation.

Akbar also set out ambitious goals each time a new session
began, and of course, the House never made any serious effort to
even get anywhere close to the targets.

When opening the year's first session, Akbar pledged that the
House would finish the deliberation of 24 bills between January
and March. The House only managed to endorse three.

This pattern held for the other sessions during the course of
2002. Because of the House's failure, the number of pending bills
continues to mount.

The House members were never serious in discharging their
legislative duty. They spent the greater part of their time
politicking. Even with their schedule already tight as a result
of the mountain of outstanding bills, they managed to establish
additional special commissions that had nothing to do with their
legislative duties.

The commissions respectively looking into the presidential
instruction (Inpres) fund and probing the management of the
Senayan sports complex are examples of political issues that took
up much of time and resources but in the end produced very
little.

Poor attendance during the commission meetings deliberating
bills reflected how little the legislators cared about their
duties.

There were times when the House was forced to endorse a bill
even though the quorum for a plenary meeting had not been met.
Instead, the bills were endorsed based upon the argument that a
quorum had been fulfilled according to the attendance list, even
of the members concerned were not necessarily in physical
attendance.

The bill on broadcasting was passed in November after two
years of heated debate. The endorsement had to be delayed once
because the plenary meeting did not meet the quorum either based
upon the body count or the attendance list.

With the House members' performance falling short of public
expectations, they still had the audacity to ask for additional
money, supposedly to help speed up the bill deliberation process.

In July, a meeting between the House leadership and President
Megawati, usually an occasion for addressing major problems
facing the nation, was used instead by the House to lobby for
extra money.

House members already receive Rp 12.4 million in basic salary
and allowances each month. On top of that, they receive Rp
300,000 for each hearing they attend, and Rp 750,000 for
deliberating a bill.

"This is extortion," political analyst Andi Mallarangeng said
commenting on the House's demand for more money.

Looking at their poor attendance records, few would disagree
that the legislators do not deserve any extra money until they
show greater discipline.

The first plenary meeting of the year on Jan. 6 virtually set
the pattern for the remainder of the year. It was delayed for
more than one hour as it did not meet the quorum requiring at
least half of the 500-strong House to be in attendance.

Despite being aware of the problem, the House leadership
showed no will to ensure greater discipline among legislators.

The House's standing orders allow for the establishment of a
disciplinary committee to discipline errant members. None has
been set up.

The House leadership has its own reasons for not setting up a
disciplinary committee.

House Speaker Akbar Tandjung, the subject of a corruption
inquiry, would be among the first to face such a committee.

Akbar was found guilty of corruption involving Rp 40 billion
during his term as a member of President B.J. Habibie's cabinet
in 1999. He is appealing against the verdict, and has been
allowed to stay free pending a final court ruling.

Despite being a convicted felon, he has managed to keep his
job as Speaker because his Golkar party still has formidable
clout as the second largest faction in the House.

A motion to get Akbar removed from the speakership was
initiated by Dwi Ria Latifa of the Indonesian Democratic Party of
Struggle (PDI Perjuangan) in September. The effort failed to
generate enough support.

The House has been tainted by other reports of corruption
throughout the year.

There was the allegation of money being passed to legislators
from the Indonesian Bank Restructuring Agency (IBRA) to ensure
their support for the sale of Bank Niaga.

But, at least, two House members showed they had consciences.

Indira Damayanti Sugondo, the whistle blower in the IBRA-Bank
Niaga scam, and Sophan Sophiaan, also of the PDI Perjuangan
faction, quit their House seats because they found the corruption
in the House to be simply overwhelming. So much so that they
decided they could not longer fight it from the inside. Needless
to say, many in the House found their departure a cause of major
relief.

Given that the image and reputation of the House have become
so abjectly dismal, it is little wonder that the public has
become even more apathetic about politics.