The House and the PDI election debacle

The drastic decrease in votes obtained by the Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI) in the recent election is likely to complicate the procedures and working mechanism of our legislative institutions, including the House of Representatives.

These complications are due to the fact that the PDI is only allotted 11 seats in the House. This is not enough for the PDI faction to be represented in all of the legislature's commissions and in the various other House agencies as well, as is needed under current House regulations.

But, as we see it, any complications that may arise due to the limited number of PDI representatives in the House will not necessary have to upset, much less impede, the House procedures and mechanisms. Those internal regulations governing procedures, mechanisms and other aspects of the legislature's functions, are, after all, objects which cannot be changed. They are not ends in themselves, but merely means to achieve the ends intended.

In this context, the drastic reduction in the number of PDI seats in the House of Representatives may perhaps be regarded as an opportunity to bring the House regulations in line with the needs of the times, in the sense that efforts can be made to see to it that the national legislature that is to be formed as a result of the 1997 general election will be able to operate with greater efficacy than before.

-- Suara Karya, Jakarta