Indonesia to inaugurate bicameral legislature
Kurniawan Hari, The Jakarta Post/Jakarta
Indonesia will set out a new bicameral representation system on Friday, when members of the House of Representatives (DPR) and members of the Regional Representatives Council (DPD) begin their five-year tenure.
Except for seven House members whose inauguration has been suspended by the General Elections Commission, including two Golkar Party politicians who were dismissed by their party after they announced support for Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, all the lawmakers will take an oath in a ceremony attended by outgoing President Megawati Soekarnoputri, Cabinet ministers and foreign diplomats at 9 a.m.
The nation elected 550 House members and 128 DPD legislators on April 5 in one of the most democratic elections in the country's history.
Over 70 percent of House members will be new faces, raising hopes for change to the legislative body, which over the past five years was plagued by struggles for short-term interests and lack of discipline. An inordinately high absenteeism rate was a key feature of the last house.
Later on Friday, the House and DPD members will be split up to elect their respective leaders. They will regroup in the evening to elect the Assembly leaders.
The bicameral system was adopted after passage of constitutional amendments in 2002, but critics maintain that it is still not entirely a bicameral legislature.
Unlike the Assembly in the past that reserved some seats to appointed members from Interest Groups and the Indonesian Military (TNI)/Police, all members of the new Assembly were elected in the April 5 general election.
According to the Constitution, the powers of the Assembly include constitutional amendments, the inauguration of the President and Vice President as well as impeachment. However, impeachment decisions can only be made after a ruling by the Constitutional Court.
Besides electing the leaders, the legislators were also scheduled to formulate the legislature's standing orders.
Seventy-two percent of the 550 House members, or 396 members, are newcomers.
Among the new legislators are soap opera actors, comedians, former beauty pageant contestants and several veteran politicians.
Smita Notosusanto, director of the Center for Electoral Reform (Cetro), said she did not worry about the presence of new faces from various backgrounds in the House.
She said the background of the legislators would have nothing to do with the performance of the House.
"I hope the legislators will immediately endorse the standing orders that define clearly what can and cannot be done by the legislators," she told The Jakarta Post on Thursday.
Smita told the legislators to build communication with their respective constituents, otherwise the people will file no- confidence motions that can tarnish their image.
Similar concerns were also raised by Bambang Widjojanto, an associate at the Partnership for Governance Reform.
Bambang suggested that the legislators establish communication with their constituents and set up a "caucus" among themselves to make sure they kept themselves accountable.
"A caucus of legislators that is designed to keep its members from corruption is urgent given the fact that corruption, collusion and nepotism are rampant," he told the Post.
Bambang said that the presence of new legislators in the House was expected to give new blood to the legislative body.
Given the fact that most politicians are motivated to get seats in the House simply to get a job and a regular income, Bambang was pessimistic about possible improvements in the House's performance.