Mentality of House members

Mentality of House members

From Pikiran Rakyat

I was saddened upon reading a Dec. 4 article by Mr. Atang
Ruswita in Pikiran Rakyat regarding a proposal that the Wisma
Randang should be set up as a place where members of the House of
Representatives and ministry officials engaged in legislative
discussions could spend the night.

This reminds me of a statement made by Cak Nun or Emha Ainun
Nadjib in a certain tabloid: "The tradition of house members
receiving money, rings, access to companies and anything else
under the guise of various names is none other than the result of
a 'poverty syndrome'. The most extreme manifestations of this
'poverty syndrome' are not found in the lives of millions of poor
people but mainly in those of wealthy and powerful people."

Isn't discussing a bill or performing other relevant tasks
indeed the job of House members? As public representatives, House
members must carry out their obligations, right?

Aside from their obligations, House members also enjoy certain
rights and various facilities, don't they? And, isn't the time
allocated for the discussion of a particular bill planned out
ahead of time?

House members earn a salary and are given other funds to carry
out tasks, which include drawing up bills. So, if House members
receive other forms of payment for doing what is in fact their
job, this is obviously corruption.

The use of funds from Jamsostek, the state-owned social
security company, to facilitate House members' discussion of a
bill is not simply a matter of making their deliberation more
peaceful and comfortable.

Many Indonesians have been infected by viruses more lethal
than AIDS: bribery, collusion and corruption. High-ranking
government officers and power holders in our country have
contracted a disease which seems incurable: the 'poverty
syndrome'. Cak Nun describes this as a mentality in which a
person feels he or she never has enough of something.

Pak Atang, a former House member, perhaps knows how the Rp 3.1
billion -- or Rp 7.1 billion as rumored -- in Jamsostek funds
allocated for the discussion of the manpower bill were used in
covering accommodation, and food and drink expenses for House
members.

It is ironic that House members were able to enjoy the funds
collected from the wages of workers even though these same
members have never contributed to the Jamsostek fund. This
astounding amount of money has in fact been used to "beat"
workers.

As a political layman, I can only come to the conclusion that
this case of the "utilization" of Jamsostek funds seems to
confirm a long-harbored suspicion that bribery and grease money
is common for the people's representatives. It is indeed
saddening that people contract such a chronic syndrome.

SONY MUCHTAR

Bandung, West Java