Irresponsible politicians

Irresponsible politicians

While President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has announced a broad
outline of his Cabinet's blueprint for his administration's first
100 days in office, what has the House of Representatives done in
the 30 days since its installment?

Practically nothing. There appears to be nothing more
important in the minds of House and factions members than to
satisfy their egos and lust for power. Although they have been in
their positions for one month, they have obviously forgotten
their pledge to put the interests of the people first.

Legislators are squabbling over the chairmanships of House
commissions, leaving the House divided into two coalitions: the
Nationhood Coalition and the People's Coalition. Megawati
Soekarnoputri's failure to maintain her presidential seat in the
Sept. 20 election runoff is apparently strongly influencing the
current deadlock in the House.

The Nationhood Coalition comprises Megawati's Indonesia
Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), Golkar and some smaller
parties. This coalition supported Megawati in the election, while
the People's Coalition comprises Susilo's Democratic Party and
some Muslim-based parties. Megawati's failure was apparently so
bitter for her that she refused to openly acknowledge Susilo's
victory.

It appears that Megawati's personal sentiment is strongly
reflected in her party's position in the House. Golkar leader
Akbar Tandjung displayed similar feelings for different reasons
after he was pushed out of the presidential race by rivals within
his own party.

Golkar's support for Megawati in the Sept. 20 runoff did not
help her much in the election. And as if the humiliation of
losing even with this support was not enough, Susilo proceeded to
pick ministers from Golkar without consulting Akbar.

At this early stage, we would like to remind Megawati and
Akbar about their commitment to being statesmen. Will they ignore
the interests of the nation just to convey their disappointment?

We would also like to appeal to the leaders of other political
parties with factions in the House to act responsibly, since
there is every indication that they may abuse the power bestowed
upon them by voters.

The reason we are appealing to party leaders and not
legislators is because, according to the House's new standing
orders, political parties have the authority to recall their
legislators, a reversal from the old standing orders under which
legislators were relatively independent. Perhaps many legislators
do not agree with their party's position in this standoff but
must remain loyal lest they lose their seats.

Party leaders should realize that people are closely watching
the politicians. Voters proved to be mature and responsible in
this year's elections, and it is only reasonable for them to
expect that the legislators they voted into office to represent
them behave likewise.

Whatever arguments, rationale or pretexts the politicians make
to defend their indefensible actions in the House, we call on
them to remember that the fate of 220 million is in their hands.

People have entrusted Susilo to lead them for the next five
years, and we hope the legislators as the people's
representatives work hard to ensure that Susilo stays on track to
make good on his promises.

However, judging from recent events, people have good reason
to doubt that the current House will perform any better than the
previous one.

The House factions must work together to find at least a win-
win solution to the deadlock. The nation just started a new five-
year journey to reach its goal to become a better and more
prosperous nation. The House is on the front line when it comes
to working with the President and his administration in putting
an end to the prolonged economic, political and security turmoil.

Politicians should be ideologically firm on key policy issues
that directly affect the people. But compromise should be the
rule of thumb in areas where the stakes are simply political
power.

At this early stage, it is important for political leaders to
look in the mirror and ask themselves, "What have I done for my
nation?" Sorry to say, we see a tendency for some of them to say,
"What should I do to destroy this government?"