Nepotism not really an issue: Moerdiono
JAKARTA (JP): Amid rising criticism, Minister/State Secretary Moerdiono said yesterday there was nothing wrong with recruiting relatives of well-placed officials as prospective members of the House of Representatives.
"So long as they are qualified for the position, nepotism in the recruitment of House members is no real problem," Moerdiono told reporters yesterday after a hearing with House Commission II for home affairs.
In Central Java yesterday, scholars warned that recruiting relatives and close friends would only worsen the already- unfavorable image of the House.
The debate over alleged nepotism in the recruitment of future House members has been raging since the three political organizations announced their legislative candidates last week.
The three political organizations, Golkar, the United Development Party and the Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI) will contest 425 seats in the 500-seat House. The remaining 75 seats are reserved for the Armed Forces (ABRI): its personnel are not allowed to vote in general elections.
Observers say that many candidates were included on the party's lists because of their close personal relationships with senior officials in the government or in their parties.
They say that some figures were nominated to represent provinces where they are unknown.
Moerdiono argued that even in western countries, the appointment of an official's wife for a certain post was acceptable so long as she was qualified.
The issue of nepotism in the selection of prospective legislators was also raised by House member A.A. Oka Mahendra, a member of House Commission II from Golkar.
Oka said that nepotism was practiced by the three groups contesting the election.
"Let the people judge if the House members (appointed because of their good relations with officials) are able to perform their jobs," Moerdiono said.
Meanwhile, several political observers said yesterday that future House members must be empowered to improve the image of the legislative body.
They said the House needed legislators with the courage to defend common people, to shed the image that the legislative body is simply a "rubber stamp institution" for the government.
Muhammad Hikam, a social researcher at the Indonesian Institute of Sciences, said that nepotism would cause the public to think that the future House members were unsatisfactory.
Nepotism, he argued, would fill the House with people too weak to control the government.
"I imagine the House will be quiet as a majority of its members will not criticize the government because they know it was government officials who gave them the seat," Hikam said in Semarang.
Political observer Afan Gaffar and scholar Muladi yesterday suggested an overhaul in the recruitment process for prospective legislators to improve the House's performance.
"Each political party should carefully select their candidates," Afan told The Jakarta Post.
Muladi, a rector of Diponegoro University, suggested the three political organizations recruit academics as legislative candidates: "I suggest that 30 percent of the 500 seats in the House of Representatives should go to intellectuals."
"The presence of intellectuals is expected to increase the quality of the House because they are good at formulating concepts and solving problems," he said.
Afan and Muladi suggested that to improve the House's performance, each commission and faction in the House should be provided expert staff.
In a separate development, Golkar Deputy Chairman Abdul Gafur denied the accusation that Golkar was nepotistic in recruiting its prospective legislators.
"We put quality above anything else," he said.
A group of Irianese youth activists went to Golkar headquarters yesterday to protest Golkar's recruitment system of prospective legislators.
The youths, led by Andy D. Manobi, demanded that the Irian Jaya constituency be represented by Irianese because they knew more about the province than people from outside the area. (imn/har)