Puan Asserts DPR is Open to Public Criticism
The Speaker of the House of Representatives (DPR RI), Puan Maharani, has emphasised that her institution remains open to input and criticism from various elements of society.
This was stated by Puan during a special plenary session for the 81st Anniversary of the DPR RI at the Parliament Complex, Senayan, Central Jakarta, on Tuesday, 1 September 2026.
The DPR, Puan noted, recognises that there is still much room for improvement in enhancing the quality of its legislative, budgetary, oversight, and parliamentary diplomacy functions.
“Criticism should not be viewed as a distance between the people and the DPR, but rather as part of a democratic relationship that keeps the DPR RI close to the aspirations and lived realities of the people,” said Puan.
Puan asserted that the DPR will use every piece of criticism and public input as a driver for self-improvement and to transform more effectively in meeting the people’s expectations.
She also mentioned that the performance of the DPR cannot be judged solely by the number of laws enacted, the number of meetings held, or the size of the state budget discussed and approved.
According to Puan, a more important measure is how far all this work brings tangible benefits to the people, improves their quality of life, and advances development across various sectors.
“The performance of the DPR RI as the people’s representatives is ultimately determined not by how much is accomplished, but by how meaningful the results of the DPR RI’s work are to the lives of the people,” she revealed.
For Puan, the 81-year journey of the DPR serves as a momentum to strengthen service, self-improvement, bolster public trust, and continue perfecting Indonesian democracy.
She described this age as a span of time filled with struggle and space for the Indonesian nation to engage in dynamics and dialectics so that people’s sovereignty can be realised in national and state life.
Sovereignty, Puan emphasised, is not placed upon individual will or power alone, but upon the people.
She believes that public trust grows from consistency between the aspirations heard, the policies taken, and the benefits felt by the people.
“Let us, the DPR RI, at our 81st year, continue to be self-reflective and work together to make the DPR RI an institution that brings real change to the lives of the people. 81 years of the DPR RI is not about how far the DPR RI has travelled, but about how close our journey is to the people,” she told the legislators.