So much to do, so little time

Honorable members of the House of Representatives returned to work on Tuesday for a new session that will last only 18 working days because of the upcoming Idul Fitri, Christmas and New Year holidays.

With so much to do and so little time at its disposal, the House would be wise to utilize it optimally to produce one or two tangible results. At a time when the performance of both the executive and legislative branches of the government are under close public scrutiny, this is the very least that the honorable members, elected or otherwise, could do for the nation.

If the House were to focus its attention on limited items, instead of going for a very broad agenda during this short working session, it might just present some meaningful results, call them Idul Fitri or Christmas gifts, to the nation.

Conversely, failure to produce something significant could further hurt the image of the House, which has increasingly been seen as nothing more than a talking shop with little to show for its efforts.

The House is already confronted by a long list of bills that is should be deliberating, with a host of investigation hearings to conduct and other numerous tasks to complete. It would be very easy for the House to lose focus and to end the 18-day session without producing anything of substance.

It would be even easier for House members to get distracted and be dragged into new and often time-wasting polemics. We have seen a lot of that recently, which explains why their productivity is appallingly low when it comes to producing new legislation.

Even the small amount of legislation that has been passed was sent back for revision and amendment. Cases in point are the two laws pertaining to regional autonomy, and the labor law.

The National Police bill was sent back to the drawing board last month because of last-minute public opposition on the eve of its final passage. Since then, there has been very little publicity about the new law to convince us that the objections raised about the bill have been addressed.

The National Police bill is a classic example of how legislation, which affects the lives of many people, is deliberated without the benefit of public hearings. We hope the House has learned its lessons for future legislation.

It is worth remembering that the House has managed to empower itself thanks, in no small measure, to the reform movement, started three years ago. Both the legislative and executive branches of the government owe their positions to the public.

With the executive branch at a loss for direction and leadership, some of the onus has fallen on the House to provide the impetus for furthering -- some might say restarting -- the nation's reform agenda. With the administration seemingly devoid of any sense of crisis, the House should become the better half of the government and show the nation the gravity of the situation facing the country today.

Unfortunately, some members of the House seem to have become intoxicated by their new-found power. We have seen cases of abuse of power and privileges by House members. The House, for example, cannot be absolved from blame for stalling some of the crucial economic reform programs of the government.

Given the strong public expectations, the House would do well in using this brief session to prove cynics wrong. This is a good time for the House to show that it can rise to the occasion.

That may be expecting too much. But the House would go a long way toward repairing its public image by completing one or two of the dozens of pending items in its agenda before it goes into recess again on December 13.

House Speaker Akbar Tandjung, in his speech kicking off the session on Tuesday, spelled out some of the more pressing agenda items for the House over the next 17 days: the appointment of a new police chief and of new ambassadors to the United States and Saudi Arabia, the deliberations on a money laundering bill and the passage of bills on the National Police and national security.

To this list, we should add the debate on whether or not the House should commence an investigation into the Bulog scandal, which implicates Akbar himself. Surely, anything that smacks of corruption and abuse of power in high places -- the Bulog case seems to have those indications -- must be investigated. Clean government and good governance, after all, are the goals of reform.

May this be a very productive Ramadhan for honorable House members.