System overhaul needed to save House's integrity: Scholar

A'an Suryana, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Extortion, corruption and graft as well as bribery, are common practices among the country's lawmakers, a legislator says.

"In working visits, regional administrations and state enterprises provide free accommodation and return airline tickets for the legislators, when in fact the lawmakers already get accommodation and airline ticket allowances from the House of Representatives (DPR) Secretariat," said legislator Indira B. Sugondo.

"Worse than that, in other cases, some legislators extort money from president directors of state-owned enterprises in exchange for political protection," said the legislator from the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan).

According to Indira, regional administrations and state-owned enterprises provide free accommodation and airline tickets to legislators, in order to have a good rapport with the lawmakers.

"Such practices have tarnished the integrity of the House of Representatives as an institution," Indira said in a discussion titled, Demanding Legislators Integrity, organized by the Forum of Concerned Citizens for the Parliament (Formappi).

Other speakers in the discussion included T.A. Legowo, Formappi coordinator, Anwar Sanusi, deputy chairman of the Public Servants' Wealth Audit Commission (KPKPN), and J. Kristiadi, a researcher with the Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS).

Last year, Tax Director General Anshari Ritonga tried to "bribe" legislators by distributing travelers checks after attending a meeting with legislators at the DPR building.

However, the case, which came to light in September last year, was dropped after both Ritonga and the legislators denied any wrongdoings.

Despite harmful practices by legislators, Indira rejected perceptions that the integrity of the DPR had been tarnished.

"The public should not generalize. There are still good people in the DPR," she said.

Other speakers believed that a strong surveillance system was needed to prevent DPR members from ruining the integrity of the institution.

System overhauling was needed, including a change from the current proportional system to the district election system, said T.A. Legowo.

Under the proportional system, constituents merely vote for the parties, and not for the person. In this system, the legislators are chosen and elected by the parties.

Under the proportional system, legislators are not motivated to perform well for the public, including maintaining integrity, since they are only responsible to their respective parties, Legowo said.

"The district system will enable people to monitor the elected legislators, since the constituents would be able to closely observe what the legislators are doing," he added.

Legowo added that the legislators would think twice if about betraying the people's aspirations.

Meanwhile, Anwar Sanusi encouraged the country's political parties to carry out internal "fit and proper" tests for their party members before they are elected.

He said political parties must ensure that the party cadres had good track records and they were of high integrity.

"This strict recruitment system would prevent the DPR from being filled with corrupt people," he said, adding that this step would benefit the image of the parties in the eyes of the public.

Kristiadi said that integrity was very important for DPR members since they were responsible to the public.

He said what legislators did would affect public life.