New faces dominate the House

New faces dominate the House

M. Taufiqurrahman, Jakarta

After more than two month's of delay, the General Elections
Commission (KPU) announced on Tuesday the final results of the
April 5 legislative elections, along with the names of the new
legislators who will sit in the House of Representatives (DPR)
and the Regional Representatives Council (DPD) for the 2004-2009
term.

The decision confirmed last month's rulings by the
Constitutional Court in a number of electoral disputes.

Following what many say is the unsatisfactory performance of
the current crop of House members, there is some hope that things
might improve as 60 percent of the new legislators announced by
the KPU are freshmen.

The Democratic Party and the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS),
who took 56 and 45 seats respectively, supplied the largest
batches of newcomers.

Among the new faces were a number of pop culture celebrities,
such as television soap opera actor Dede Macan Yusuf (PAN), and
comedian Qomar and former pageant queen Angelina Sondakh of the
Democratic Party.

Old faces include Theo Sambuaga and Paskah Suzetta of the
Golkar Party, and Soetardjo Soerjogoeritno and Sukowaluyo
Mintoraharjo of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-
P).

The Commission will announce the composition of the provincial
and local legislative councils by Sept. 30 at the latest after
fully considering the rulings of the Constitutional Court in the
electoral disputes that came before it.

KPU chairman Nazaruddin Sjamsudin said on Tuesday that the 550
House and 128 DPD candidates would be sworn in as members of the
new bicameral legislature on Oct. 1.

Among the parties affected by the Constitutional Court rulings
was the Golkar Party, which had taken 128 seats according to the
KPU count. However, it lost one of these seats to the Pioneer
Party in the West Irian Jaya electoral district. The upstart
Democratic Party also lost a seat to the National Mandate Party
(PAN) in Central Sulawesi.

Also in West Irian Jaya, the Christian-based Prosperous Peace
Party (PDS) took the only seat that had been won by the United
Democratic Nationhood Party (PPDK).

In the DPD, the KPU ruled that the seat previously awarded to
the younger brother of Amien Rais, Dahlan Rais, should be given
to Achmad Chalwani.

The KPU will forward the list of the new House and Regional
Representatives Council members to the State Secretary for the
approval of the President in three day's time. The President is
expected to issue a presidential decree sometime before Oct. 1
formally appointing the new legislators.

Analyst Daniel Sparingga of the Surabaya, East Java-based
Airlangga University said the performance of legislators did not
depend on their experience. "What counts the most is ... their
commitment to heeding the views of their constituents," he said.