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?"