House members make little progress: Journalists' forum

JAKARTA (JP): The 500-member House of Representatives which was sworn in just over a year ago has produced little concrete progress despite its rambunctious and open legislative debates.

Such was the conclusion and criticism of the Mass Communications Forum (FKM), an organization which brings together journalists who cover the daily activities of the House.

In a meeting here on Tuesday to evaluate the House's performance, the Forum said the House, together with the People's Consultative Assembly, had succeeded in retaking "the political crown" from the executive body but in many cases the legislative body failed to fulfill its functions and tasks.

Sulistyo, chairman of the forum, welcomed the legislature's newfound empowerment, but said that the added clout has yet to be translated into concrete results.

"Over the last year, the House has been too busy politicking and concentrating on its control function while ignoring many other important tasks," he said.

The evaluation was based on inputs from journalists grouped in the forum.

Sulistyo noted that the legislative body has passed only 14 laws in comparison to the 116 bills submitted to the House, adding that the Forum was also pessimistic that the legislative body could reach its target of producing 300 laws by the end of its term in 2004.

Sulistyo further pointed out that while the House has frequently criticized the government, it itself had failed to take political decisions in respect of the exercise of its control function.

He said that the factions continue to be indecisive as many of the political issues debated in the House were taken up at the personal initiative of legislators themselves.

Suradi, the forum's secretary general, meanwhile questioned the legislators' commitment to complying with the House's internal rules, especially concerning their attendance at commission hearings.

"According to data from the House's secretariat general, at least 13 legislators from various factions have not attended commission hearings over the last three months (August, September and October) for no clear reasons while no action has been taken against them," he said.

The 13 included Vice President Megawati Soekarnoputri's husband Taufiq Kiemas and Abdul Madjid, both from the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan) faction, Slamet Effendy Yusuf of the Golkar Party faction, Amien Rais of the reform faction and Matori Abdul Djalil of the National Awakening Party (PKB) faction.

"The legislators' constituents would certainly be disappointed if they knew about this," Suradi added. (rms)