Experts scold House for internal quarrels

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.