Legislators represents parties: Cetro

Legislators represents parties: Cetro

Tiarma Siboro, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The upcoming general elections will do little to change the face
of legislative bodies in the country, as lawmakers will remain
the mouthpieces of their parties rather than representatives of
the people, a study concluded on Monday.

The study, conducted by the Center for Electoral Reform
(Cetro), revealed that most legislative candidates surveyed
acknowledged they had been promoted by their parties.

Cetro also found bribery remained common in the selection of
candidates, raising fears that the future legislators will take
advantage of their positions to recover the money they spent
getting elected.

"Based on the research, we shouldn't hope for too much from
the new election system. Of course, the presence of new faces
indicates that the country has the human resources to fill the
positions, and that is a good sign.

"But since they were appointed by their parties, I doubt
whether they will understand their main role is as people's
representatives," said Hadar F. Gumay of Cetro.

The study covered 469 legislative candidates from several
major parties. The respondents, who were randomly selected,
represented six electoral districts: Jakarta, South Sumatra, West
Kalimantan, South Kalimantan, South Sulawesi and West Nusa
Tenggara.

The respondents had to answer questions about which party had
promoted them, the requirements set by each party for the
selection of legislative candidates, the selection process for
the candidates, the prospects for women candidates and the
performance of the General Elections Commission (KPU) in regard
with registering candidates.

According to the study, 77 percent of the 46 respondents in
Jakarta said they had been appointed to run by their parties,
while more than 80 percent of them had never been involved in
practical politics.

In West Kalimantan, about 96 percent of the respondents said
they were appointed by their parties, while in South Kalimantan
the figure was 90 percent.

On the question of whether their parties had asked the
candidates "to donate" some money, several respondents said they
had to pay from Rp 1 million (US$119) to Rp 5 million. Several
respondents said their parties asked them for hundreds of
millions of rupiah.

The study found the selection of legislative candidates in
Jakarta was less prone to money politics, with only 20 percent of
the respondents surveyed in the capital saying their parties had
demanded money for their nominations.

In South Kalimantan, about 98 percent of the respondents said
their parties did not ask them for money.

"The respondents said they argued with their parties over
various fees they had to pay, including administration fees and
registration fees," Hadar said.

Bargaining between the parties and candidates also took place
in determining the candidates' rankings on the list of the
parties' legislative candidates, according to the study.

"Only about 4 percent of the respondents from each electoral
districts admitted to having the amount of money they paid
determine their candidacy number, but we see this as an effort to
maintain the good image of their parties," Hadar said.