Powerless Council

It began on a high note. When the third amendment was made to the 1945 Constitution, the bicameral political system was adopted through the introduction of the Regional Representatives Council (DPD) in addition to the House of Representatives. It was imagined at that time that a system would be introduced similar to the United States, where people are represented by the House of Representatives and the Senate.

In 2004, members of the House of Representatives were elected and, for the first time, regional representatives were picked for the DPD. Unlike House members, DPD members are directly elected, and many of them are not affiliated with any political party. So, in theory, DPD members are closer to being actual representatives of the people than House members.

However, in its development, it was realized that our bicameral system was far from perfect and that the DPD members were in truth toothless. Unlike the Senate in the United States, the DPD has no legislative power. Its only "power" is, together with the House, deliberating bills addressing regional issues, and providing recommendations to the House on bills on state budgets, taxes, education and religion. Other than that, the DPD has no voice.

The powerlessness of the DPD was most apparent when the House flatly rejected the DPD's request to sit together with the House to hear President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's Aug. 16 state of the nation address. Then, the DPD held on Tuesday its own plenary meeting, which President Susilo -- apparently in a consolatory gesture -- also attended.

For many people, the DPD meeting on Tuesday was meaningless, other than its promotion of batik -- all DPD members and guests were wearing batik garments. But the meeting itself had no clear agenda, nor direction. It is true that the DPD is required by the Constitution to assemble in a meeting at least once a year. However, what purpose does it serve to come together for a plenary meeting just for the sake of meeting the constitutional obligation, when there is no clear agenda or direction?

So far, nothing has been heard from the DPD about its plans for next year, let alone the next five years. At the same time, pressing problems related to regional issues are on the rise. Where does the DPD stand and how will it act on issues related to Aceh, Papua, and most recently the uneven distribution of wealth that has resulted from the increasing revenue sharing of rich regions as a consequence of soaring oil prices?

If the DPD wants to use the momentum, it can wield its "power" to help the government and the Acehnese make the Aceh peace agreement work by facilitating the amendment of the Aceh special autonomy law, in accordance with the agreement.

Also, the DPD should run with Susilo's suggestions on revenue sharing. Susilo called on oil- and gas-producing regions enjoying windfall revenue from soaring oil prices to share their wealth for the development of public services in poor regions. It is likely that no rich region will heed the President's call. Therefore, the best way to address this problem is to distribute the central government's block grants -- the General Allocation Fund (DAU) -- only to regions that are not benefiting from revenue sharing from oil and gas. So far, all regions, including those oil and gas producing regions, receive the block grants, although their portion might be smaller than the poorer regions. Here, the DPD can take a position, and play a role, if it wishes, by making recommendations to the House regarding the allocation of the block grants in the 2006 state budget.

Thus, if its recommendations to the House are not taken up, the turndown should be made public. That way, the DPD could win popular support for its ultimate goal: the fifth amendment of the Constitution, to empower the DPD. It is advisable for the DPD to work toward the constitutional amendment. Otherwise, the DPD will remain powerless and useless. However, going it alone would also be fruitless as the DPD -- with 128 members -- is just too small to initiate any amendment. Therefore, the people are waiting for the DPD to show that it is deserving of support.