Experts scold House for internal quarrels
Kurniawan Hari, The Jakarta Post/Jakarta
Noted observers have criticized the two opposing coalitions in the House of Representatives on Sunday for placing short-term, party gain over and above the public's interest in the election of leaders of House commissions and auxiliary bodies.
They argued that as public representatives, the legislators should reflect the aspirations of the people rather than those of their respective political parties.
"This is disappointing and embarrassing. The legislators must start thinking about the aspirations of the people, not those of their respective parties," J. Kristiadi from the Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) said on Sunday.
Legal expert Sri Soemantri from Padjadjaran University (Unpad) expressed concern over the fact that the legislators were still quarreling about posts one month after taking their seats.
"The legislators must end their bickering and start work soon," he said.
The majority Nationhood Coalition has been at loggerheads with the pro-government People's Coalition after they failed to reach agreement on the election mechanisms for commission posts.
The Nationhood Coalition -- comprising Golkar, the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), the Reform Star Party (PBR) and the Prosperous Peace Party (PDS) -- wanted House commission and auxiliary posts to be put to vote, while the People's Coalition -- consisting of the United Development Party (PPP), the Democratic Party, the National Mandate Party (PAN), the Prosperous Justice Party and several small parties grouped under the Democratic Pioneer Reform faction -- have been insisting that the posts be allocated proportionally.
If a vote were to be taken, the Nationhood Coalition would probably take all the commission chairmanships, while distributing the posts proportionally would ensure that members of the People's Coalition also got chairmanship posts.
The only non-coalition member of the House, the National Awakening Party (PKB), has thrown its support behind the Nationhood Coalition.
Members of the People's Coalition have been boycotting House meetings since Tuesday of last week, prompting the rival coalition and the PKB to proceed with the election of the chairmen of the House commissions and auxiliary bodies.
The People's Coalition and some analysts have said the meetings were invalid as they were not attended by more than half of the factions as required by the House standing orders.
According to the standing others, a meeting is valid and may thus take legally binding decisions if it is attended by more than half of the legislators and half of the factions.
While the meetings held since Tuesday were attended by more than 300 of the House's 547 members, they still lacked legitimacy as they were attended by only five factions.
On Sunday, leaders of the People's Coalition stressed that they would not attend commission meetings unless the composition of commission chairmanships was changed.
"The commissions and their chairmen are not legitimate. We hope the government will not send officials to attend their meetings," said Dradjad H. Wibowo, deputy chairman of the National Mandate Party (PAN) faction here on Sunday.
Dradjad, however, did not offer any concrete proposals for breaking the deadlock.
The tug-of-war among House's factions is a continuation of the political rivalry between the Nationhood Coalition and the People's Coalition.
The Nationhood Coalition supported the reelection of former president Megawati Soekarnoputri in the country's first direct presidential election, while the People's Coalition backed Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, who took the presidency in a landslide victory.