Public ignorant about their representatives

Public ignorant about their representatives

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Ask anyone about who is his or her representative in the House
of Representatives (DPR) and you will likely get a blank stare.

In spite of the massive turnout in the last general election
in 1999, the majority of the people still cannot name their
representatives in the national legislature, according to a newly
published survey by Taylor Nelson Sofres Indonesia.

Most cannot even name one single representative from any
constituency.

In the nationwide survey conducted in April, only 4 percent of
the 3,580 polled were able to name their representative; another
nine percent could name a representative but not necessarily the
constituency he/she comes from.

A staggering 86 percent could not name even one single
legislator.

Have they never heard of Akbar Tandjung, the speaker of the
House whose name has been in the news these past six months for
allegations of corruption and abuse of power?

Yet, that's the reality of today's political situation in
Indonesia, whereby the people are largely alienated from the
national political processes, except during election years.

This is the downside of the proportional representative
electoral system, in which people vote for the political parties,
instead of for the politicians who are running for office. As a
result, most people do not know, or even care, who is eventually
appointed to represent them in the legislature.

This alienation is reaffirmed by the fact that the majority of
the people polled said they had never been contacted by the
politicians, either in the national (DPR) or local legislatures
(DPRD), whom they elected to represent them.

Even those who had been in contact said the initiative had
come from them rather than from the politician. Nine percent of
those polled said they had contacted their representatives in
either the local or national legislatures, and only 4 percent
said they had been contacted by the representatives.

In contrast, 67 percent said they had never contacted their
representatives and 87 percent said they had never been
contacted.

Hopes that the 2004 election would bring the constituents and
the elected politicians closer have been dashed because the
proportional representative system will continue to be used.

The only major change in the next election system is in the
way the nation elects its president, which will be direct,
instead of through the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR).

Taylor Nelson Sofres conducted the survey in cooperation with
the International Foundation for Election System (IFES)
Indonesia. The poll was commissioned by the House of
Representatives and the People's Consultative Assembly to test
public opinion about the current political situation.

The 3,580 respondents were randomly picked from urban (36
percent) and rural (64 percent) areas in all 30 provinces, with
49 percent of respondents men and 51 percent women.

People's connection with the political parties is better than
is the case with the legislators. But only just.

Only 39 percent of those polled were able to name more than
five political parties, according to the survey.

The majority, or 37 percent, said that political parties were
more concerned about their own interests, as against 27 percent
who believed that the parties were genuinely concerned about
public participation in the political process.

On which parties have been more successful in representing the
people's aspirations, the survey did not depart far from the 1999
general election results in terms of ranks, although the
Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan) appeared
to have scored better than in their election performance.

According to the survey, 43 percent of the respondents said
PDI Perjuangan, which is chaired by President Megawati
Soekarnoputri, succeeded in channeling the people's aspirations.
Golkar came second with 18 percent, followed by the Nation
Awakening Party (14 percent), the United Development Party or PPP
(12 percent), and the National Mandate Party or PAN (8 percent).