House does not need code of ethics

Following bribery allegations of some members of the House of Representatives (DPR), leaders of all four factions of the House have approved a plan to set up an ethics code for legislators. Yusril Ihza Mahendra, a constitutional law professor at the University of Indonesia, discusses the necessity of such a code.

Question: What should be included in the planned code of ethics to help improve the credibility of House members?

Yusril: I don't think the DPR needs a code of ethics because its members are not professionals like journalists or medical doctors. DPR members are officials elected by citizens to represent their interests. They, therefore, have to do their jobs in accordance with laws and other regulations.

Q: So, you think efforts of the House leaders to formulate a code of ethics would be meaningless?

Y: Useless, yes. If the DPR had a code of ethics, who would apply sanctions against legislators violating it? As a comparison, if a journalist violates the journalistic code of ethics, the honorary council of the Indonesian Journalist Association would decide a punishment for him or her. Would there be any institution which could apply sanctions against DPR members? So, I do not see the use of a code of ethics for DPR members.

Q: What rules should the DPR establish to control the conduct of its members?

Y: None. There have been laws and other regulations that they have to comply with in carrying out their jobs. The most important thing is enforcing those laws and regulations. If there are legislators involved in bribery while deliberating bills, for example, the Criminal Act would be enough to take action against them. Just try them at court and enforce the law. So, the problem has nothing to do with any code of ethics but it concerns the law.

If a legislator's conduct brings any disgrace to his or her faction, the faction or party to which he or she belongs can recall that legislator.

Q: DPR leaders are also looking for ways to strengthen their influence over the government to make its supervision more effective. What do you think about that?

Y: That's good because, at least, they have shown a commitment to do things better. It is too early for us to evaluate their jobs now since the House members only began their term of office two months ago.

Q: If there is an impression among the public that the House is weaker than the government, is it because the quality of its members are inferior or because government officials are too arrogant?

Y: That problem is very complicated and cannot be solved in a short period of time. If we want to improve the performance of the House, we would have to make revisions from the very beginning. The method of general elections and the law on the structures and the positions of the People's Consultative Assembly, the House of Representatives and local legislative councils, for example, need revision. There are many things that force the DPR to perform its tasks below its optimum capacity.

If there is any effort to improve its performance, it would be just a measure to overcome problems caused by loopholes of some regulations.

Q: What are the weaknesses of our method of general elections and how should we improve it?

Y: The current proportional system of elections using pictures (as symbols of the elected parties) does not clearly show which of the listed candidates would really become members of the DPR. It is also not clear that DPR members are representing the voting people.

I, therefore, have long suggested that general elections be based on a district system, in which voters would directly elect their representatives from their own districts.

The district method would better guarantee that the elected candidates would really represent the voting people. Furthermore, tendency towards nepotism would diminish because DPR members are directly elected by the people.

For the first time, a test could be conducted by combining both the proportional and the district methods. The proportional method, for instance, could be conducted at regencies and the district method at mayoralties. By so doing, we could compare which of the two methods would be more appropriate for our nation. (riz)