System overhaul needed to save House's integrity: Scholar
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.