Empowering the House

Empowering the House

As some observers have remarked, last week's call by House of
Representatives Speaker Wahono for legislators to be more
courageous and dare to criticize the government, may hold nothing
new.

Nevertheless, under the present circumstances, his words
deserve to be taken seriously by all of us who have the well-
being of this nation at heart.

As Wahono said, the House -- Indonesia's national legislature
which commemorated its 52nd anniversary on Friday last week --
provides a strategic link between public aspirations and
government policies.

The House, in other words, is there to ensure that the
people's wishes are properly rendered into law, or government
policy, and to minimize the possibility of disturbances resulting
from discrepancies between the two.

Over past years, there has been a growing number of complaints
that our national legislature has not lived up to its tasks --
either as a law-making body or as an overseer of government
policies -- as spelled out by the constitution.

The growing number of "protest delegations", which have
visited the House in previous years and the more recent unrest
occurring with unnerving frequency in a number of regions, seem
to give credence to such criticism.

With people feeling that they are deprived of an effective
channel to express their wishes, or their discontent, obviously
the only way that remains open to them is to publicly air their
grievances. Sometimes this course of action leads to violence.

It is interesting in this context to note Wahono's remarks
that the House's efforts to channel public complaints would
heavily depend on the government's willingness to respond.

For the near future, at least, Wahono said the House might not
be able to empower itself, despite the fact that it had amended
its internal rules to make it easier for legislators to exercise
their rights. Standing in the way of the House is a political
culture that provides no room for different opinions.

"If paternalism, feudalism, uneasiness ... are maintained, our
painstaking efforts to amend the internal rules will not (result)
in (the improvement of) ourselves," Wahono said.

Again, appropriate as they may be, we have heard those
arguments before. What gives them extra weight this time, though,
is the pivotal conditions in which we are now living.

With the nation being challenged to confront a dawning global
era of free trade, there is very little time left to ready
ourselves for life in a fiercely competitive world that is
virtually without borders.

The present financial crisis that is shaking the foundations
of our regional economies is a strong enough reminder that much
remains to be done to put our house in order.

For our efforts to yield the most benefit, Indonesians must
work together as an integrated whole. To achieve this, it is
necessary that the House of Representatives be fully capable of
performing its functions. It must be a worthy counterpart for the
government.

Our House may, as yet, not be the ideal national body that one
might wish for in order to face the challenges of the new era.
But paying serious heed to Wahono's reminder will help put us
back on the right track. It is the least we can do for the sake
of the well-being of this nation.