'Politicians can always find a loophole'

'Politicians can always find a loophole'

In a move meant to ensure politicians deliver on their campaign
promises, a group of Jakarta residents have asked four City
Council candidates to put down their promises in writing. The
Jakarta Post talked to residents about whether such social
contracts were a feasible way to improve the performance of our
representatives and increase public trust in politicians.

Diastomo, 27, is a technician at a private company on Jl.
Sudirman in Central Jakarta. He lives in Setiabudi, South
Jakarta:

I never heard about social contracts before. But I think there
is no guarantee that such contracts can really force the
politicians to live up to their promises. Politicians are tricky.
They can always find a loophole.

Look at our Cabinet members, the President and the Vice
President, who are playing around with the elections law. Instead
of taking the required official leave for their political
campaigning, they just shorten their working hours to make time
for campaigning. That's cheating, isn't it? They clearly place
the interests of their political parties above the interests of
the public.

Who would monitor the politicians to see whether they did
their best to deliver on their promises to voters? If they
promised to build a school and then we could see that there was
no building, maybe we could sue them for breach of contract. But
what if they promised not to lie? How could we get evidence?

Hery Harjanto, 45, is an executive at the Meteorology and
Geophysics Agency. He lives on Jl. Danau Poso in Bendungan Hilir,
Central Jakarta:

I agree with the idea of a social contract, demanding that
legislative candidates commit to the campaign to eradicate
corruption, collusion and nepotism (KKN).

At the least, such a contract would serve as a legally binding
document that could be used by the public to monitor the
credibility of politicians.

If politicians who sign a contract are later involved in KKN,
the public can ask their respective political parties to dismiss
them.

But I am not optimistic that this could eliminate KKN, because
there would be no legal sanctions for the violators. It depends
on the individual legislative candidates as to whether he or she
will commit to such a contract.

--The Jakarta Post