Indonesia to inaugurate bicameral legislature

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.