President's progress report

President's progress report

It is interesting to observe the opinions that members of the
People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) have expressed about the
President's progress report on Aug. 7, 2000, which was read by
the cabinet secretary, particularly because to some MPR members
this report is normative and qualitative and is, therefore,
unsatisfactory. According to the honorable MPR members, a
progress report must contain figures, or, in other words, be
quantitative so that it can be measured and compared clearly and
objectively.

Irrespective of whether figures are found in the attachment to
the report, it is obvious that the President's progress report
was made on the basis of and with reference to the broad outlines
of the state's policy. Therefore, the criteria for evaluating the
report must be also be those based and referring to the 1999-2004
outlines of the state's policy, which is normative and
qualitative in substance. Therefore, it is not in place on the
part of the honorable members of the MPR to demand that the
President's progress report should neither be normative nor
qualitative. It must be borne in mind that the outlines of the
state's policy must serve as a common yardstick.

As a matter of fact, an evaluation of the President's progress
report must be based on the implementation of the Annual
Development Plan (Repeta) in particular and the Five-Year
National Development Program (Propenas) in general. It must be
noted, however, that the Propenas and the Repeta have been
stipulated by the President along with the House of
Representatives (DPR) (I emphasize the words "along with").
Therefore, if the Repeta/Propenas are made the basis of the
evaluation, the DPR must also be held accountable for the
progress (or setback) made by the President. Or, in other words,
in the Annual Session of the MPR, the DPR must institutionally
share the responsibility for the acceptance or rejection of the
progress report of the President. As mentioned earlier, the DPR
is also a party in the drawing up of the Repeta/Propenas (with
the President being another party) and is assigned the task of
supervising its implementation.

AMIR KARAMOY

Jakarta