'Factions give parties a voice of legislature'
Yuli Tri Suwarni, The Jakarta Post, Bandung
Political parties, strengthened by Government Regulation No. 1/2002, need the presence of factions at their legislatures to better fight for their political interests, legislators say.
Further, Rudi Harsa Tanaya, chairman of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan) faction in West Java and Rafani Akhyar, chairman of the National Mandate Party (PAN) faction, said they would oppose any dissolution of current factions at the legislature, citing a need for their voices in the decision-making process.
The pair offered similar words on Friday, when asked whether it was necessary to break down the factions, since they were not officially part of the legislature to begin with, and thus perhaps impeded legislators' independent abilities to work towards the greater good of their constituents.
Their presence is "in line with the current electoral system with which political parties ... have authority to determine if members can sit in the legislature to fight for a political platform," Rudi said.
Rudi said that his faction, and its members, were obliged to lobby for PDI Perjuangan's programs, while winning political support from a larger pool of people during elections.
Rafani concurred, chiming in that the legislature would use the one-man, one-vote system in the decision-making process, both at the plenary session level and the commission level, to help empower legislators to use their individual rights.
He hailed government regulations minimizing the number of factions present in the legislature as a way to simplify legislative machinations.
The regulation, moreover, will ease the decision-making, "because the more factions there are, the more (time) the legislature will spend," he added.
During its plenary session Thursday, however, the provincial legislative council was deadlocked over whether it would enforce the government regulation fully.
The regulation, which took effect on Jan. 1, 2002, requires provincial and regency legislatures to have with them representatives of factions who make up at least ten percent of the total number of the legislatures' parties.
Factions whose members meet this mandate want to enforce it to the fullest to simplify their numbers; on the other hand, the legislators with constituents numbering less than ten percent opposed the regulation.
Should the regulation be enforced, only the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan), United Development Party, Golkar Party and the Indonesian Military/National Police will have their own faction.
Ten other parties, including the National Awakening Party (PKB), the National Mandate Party (PAN) and the Crescent Star Party (PBB) will likely form a joint faction.
Of the 100 seats in the provincial legislature, 76 were occupied by the four major factions, while the remaining 24 go to the other ten factions. The ten factions will likely form two joint factions, as is mandated under the regulation.
A special committee to discuss the internal rulings, set up in May, has endorsed the idea.
Major factions also agreed to maintain the current legislative leadership under Eka Santosa of the PDI Perjuangan faction, because he was elected unanimously during its 1999 plenary session. At the time, minority factions called for a re-election under the regulation.
Yudi Widiana Adhia of the Justice Party faction and Asep Rachmat Kurnia of PAN faction walked out of the plenary session in protest of what they considered the factions' arrogance.
The special committee's recommendations "show major factions' arrogance," while forcing minority groups to accept legislation they oppose, Yudi said.
The two legislators threatened to file suit in State Administrative Court against the special committee, citing what they characterized as unfair recommendations.
Asep argued that, under the government regulation, it would be all but impossible for minority parties to fight for their own political constituents in provincial legislatures unduly dominated by major parties.
Simply put, "the four major factions will dominate all decisions that will be made by the legislature," he said.