MPR Annual Session not worth a damn
MPR Annual Session not worth a damn
J. Soedjati Djiwandono, The Centre for Strategic and
International Studies, Jakarta
This year's Annual Session of the People's Consultative
Assembly (MPR) shows more clearly than ever the absurdity of the
existence of that almighty state institution, supposedly the
supreme governing body of the Indonesian system of government.
Judging by its results, the Annual Session was just a waste of
time and resources.
As was clear this year, its members did not seem to attach
much importance to it. A large majority of them - more than half
- stayed away from its various sessions. Almost every time a
member spoke at the rostrum, always starting with banal
traditional greetings and carrying on with lengthy, mostly
meaningless statements, one would see on TV the familiar scene of
empty seats (except at the opening and closing plenary sessions).
Some members were seen dozing and heard snoring; some others were
reading newspapers or flicking through its pages; some chatted or
whispered with one another; others were busy with their mobile
phones; the rest just looked blank.
The power of control and supervision over the executive branch
of government is, by the Constitution, entrusted to the House of
Representatives (DPR), whose members comprise over two thirds of
the MPR membership. And yet, now not only the President, but also
all high state institutions, were to give their respective annual
reports to the supreme state institution in the country, as
though it did not have enough to do to occupy itself already. Or
does it just not trust the DPR?
Worse still, the quality of the debate left much to be
desired, although one subject was supposed to be of great
significance. This was the question of further substantial
amendments to the Constitution, particularly one that I had
thought could ultimately lead to constitutional change. However,
it seems clear that few, if any, of the politicians, for whatever
reason, seemed interested in a complete change of the 1945
Constitution. On the contrary, the name of the Constitution has
even been further institutionalized.
Speaking about the possible role of the MPR in electing the
president in the event that no candidate wins more than 50
percent of the votes in a direct presidential election in the
first round of voting only revealed their distorted minds and
crooked logic. It presumes the continued existence of the MPR in
spite of a direct election of the president by the people. It
indicates the lack of genuine concern over the future of the
nation.
Furthermore, the continuous debate on whether or not and when
the so-called functional representatives - which are ill-defined
and after all are not to be elected by the people but appointed
to the MPR - are to form their own faction is absolutely
senseless and useless. We should abolish this vague
representation in all state institutions in the future.
Most ridiculous of all, the MPR took it upon itself the right
to formulate a vision of the future of Indonesia for the people,
who should be left to build their own common vision of their
future. They themselves, through a proper democratic process,
should realize this eventually. This would create a bottom-up
process to substitute for the top-down process that has been
institutionalized by the New Order regime. Moreover, the future
rightly belongs to the younger generation, not to the present
generation, many of whom may not even be around when the year
2020 comes, let alone beyond.
Indeed, in a way it is good that the session failed to reach
agreement on the third constitutional amendment. The present
generation of leaders and politicians cannot be relied on to
carry on the process of genuine reform. They are unwilling and
unable to reform themselves, perhaps because of their vested
interests.
It is doubtful whether many of them are intellectually
competent and knowledgeable enough to know the proper direction
and aim of reform. The "political education" of many of them was
not much more that two periods of "political indoctrination",
under founding president Sukarno and still longer and more
intensive under former president Soeharto. Sukarno was at least
more honest in calling it "indoctrination", while Soeharto used a
euphemism that I loathe even to mention.
Remnants of such political education can still be seen among
politicians and even "intellectuals" in their wordy and
complicated manner of speaking, which most people find difficult
to understand and a way of thinking that is very hard to follow.
Many of the concepts and terminologies are beyond comprehension,
yet are often held sacrosanct (such as Pancasila and the 1945
Constitution, particularly its preamble) and patterns of attitude
as well as behavior that have become part of "Indonesian
culture".
Those kinds of people tend to be very resistant to change,
hence their aversion to constitutional change. Few of them
realize the current crisis is partly due to our fundamentally
defective constitution that is vulnerable to manipulation. They
do not really mean, or even understand when they speak of "total
reform" in all fields. It was not even them that initiated the
reform movement - which led to the crumbling of the New Order -
but the young university students. Yet, they are now so
pretentious as to build a vision of the future for the young
generation. How ironic!
Before they speak and carry on the process of "reform", the
present generation of politicians should reform themselves, first
in the sense that they should liberate themselves from their bad
and incomprehensible manner of speaking; they should learn to
express themselves better; get rid of certain patterns of
attitude and behavior; liberate themselves from aversion to
change; stop regarding certain things as "sacrosanct".
They should not be averse to lessons from other nations,
particularly those with years of experience in a working
democracy. Indeed, a number went overseas for "comparative
studies" shortly after their election to the assembly (reportedly
bringing their wives along). I doubt if they learned much or
anything at all.