House's rights should be activated

House's rights should be activated

From Jayakarta

RCTI's Aneka Dialog on Nov. 14 had Fahmi Idris, a prominent
student activist in 1966 and now a successful businessman, as one
of its four guests.

Fahmi Idris made the remark, if I am not mistaken, that the
House of Representatives should maximize its rights.

I am in complete agreement with him, because if the House does
not avail itself of its rights, it is tantamount to belittling
the people's sovereignty, even worse, letting mistakes go
uncorrected.

There has been many important, basic matters that have not
been followed up.

Findings by the State Audit Agency show many irregularities of
state money management in development projects, in ministries and
other agencies. We all know that the amount of money stolen is
enormous and only a small part of it has been salvaged.

Bad debts have reached some Rp 250 trillion. Among the big
businesses with bad debts only the Golden Key Group case has been
brought to court. The discontinuation of bad debt investigations
is probably connected to certain spheres of influence.

Some 15 years ago the "Petisi 50" group issued their
"statement of concern" on things that called for investigation.
Instead they were forbidden from traveling abroad. It was planned
to isolate them on Buru island, for having defamed the
government. It is regrettable that the matter has never been
brought to court.

Meanwhile, according to my personal observation, a number of
points in the "statement of concern" carry truth while some other
points are hearsay.

Many members of the lower strata of our society often go to
the House to file their complaints. It is a sign that the
aspirations of parts of our society remain unfulfilled. The
problems, such as land disputes, minimum wages, the arbitrariness
of employers towards labor, need to be followed up by the
appropriate agencies already in place.

I hope that the next speakers of the House of Representatives
and People's Consultative Assembly will be civilians who are
willing to stand amidst the people.

MAS SOEBANDI

West Jakarta