The MPR and DPR: Scenes of turbulence and contention
Meidyatama Suryodiningrat, Jakarta
Evaluating the state of parliamentary democracy, one of the country's founding fathers, M. Hatta, conceded that "democracy needs practice ... there must be some for a nation not accomplished in this exercise at the national level".
His remarks are as relevant today as they were in 1956. And what a practice session it has been for members of the 1999-2004 People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) and the House of Representatives (DPR) who are ending their five-year terms. Our representative assembly has been both a source of pride and embarrassment. They united in the face of executive might to oust a reckless president, later engaged in fisticuffs against each other on an issue that no one can now recall; they showed wisdom and a spirit of conciliation in the colossal task of amending a constitution; a sacred text, but had no qualms in -- allegedly -- accepting hard cash to pass pieces of legislation.
The chaotic-like nature of representative democracies is as symptomatic as cancer is to smoking.
Some 250 years ago American James Madison wrote that democracies have always been spectacles of turbulence and contention. Madison's prophetic discourse on the peril of an assembly undermining democratic values, aptly portrays the plight of Indonesia's own institution. His forewarning of "no cure for the mischief of factions" ring true.
The 2001 presidential change was the apex of the Assembly's preponderance garnered through the reform era. A power which has tilted the delicate system of checks and balances with legislators becoming a lethal constraint on government, but itself unparalleled by any other institution.
President Megawati Soekarnoputri must have been reminded of the irony of the MPR and DPR's power when she received their overwhelming support in October 2001, although just 18 months earlier many had successfully conspired to sabotage her presidential bid.
Only time will tell how the outgoing Assembly and House will be judged. Apart from amending the Constitution and ousting a president, the House also passed about 160 laws.
Too "polite" to impose stronger internal rules and regulations on themselves, the outgoing Assembly -- 70 percent of whom will not retain their seats -- have just enacted a more stringent Code of Ethics for their successors.
These new codes not only promise stronger punishments but an MPR Ethics Council that can effectively impose sanctions, such as the public exposure of a notice. Removal from office, however, is not a sanction that can be applied by this ethics council. A member can only be removed from office by the either the House or the Regional Representatives Council (DPD).
At the very least it will provide a basis for supervising legislators' behavior and cut down on absenteeism during hearings.
Delays and cancellations of hearings have become acute problems in recent years as attendance has often failed to meet the 50 percent quorum. The average 52 percent attendance rate pales to the previous House's 1997-1999 record of 70 percent.
What can we say when people, who earn an average minimum monthly income of Rp 15 million -- about twice as high as Indonesia's average annual per capita income, fail to even show up to work.
False notions of entitlement make legislators neglect their missions in the legislative chambers -- to serve the public interest.
Often their oversight breeds politics at its worst, or "war by other means", with parties sabotaging each other or making backroom deals for personal political or economic benefit.
Take the National Police bill. It was controversial from the start as it placed the maintenance of security and order as the predominant police duty ahead of serving and protecting the public.
Legislators recognized the concerns and seemed to heed the criticisms when the House delayed the bill and formed a team to further review it. But weeks later it was quietly passed untouched. The delay turned out to be merely a ruse.
Thus, despite the new Code of Ethics and Standing Orders, ultimately the performance of the House will depend on the sincerity of those who work there.
What of the new -- 120 DPD and 550 House -- members?
Many say there is hope given that an overwhelming majority are new members. However being new does not guarantee integrity, it just means that the person has had not had a chance to be corrupted yet.
The House in particular could be even more fractious with no party occupying more than 23 percent of the seats. We shall also have to wait and see how effective the Nationhood Coalition will be. Spurred on by Golkar and the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), the coalition boasts a total 323 seats. On paper it has the makings of a tyranny by assembly.
As Hatta in his observation in 1956 noted, "party politics is anomalous, because real power does not reside with the responsible authority but with the party board who has no responsibility (to the people)".
Our elected representatives, self-admittedly, are not agents of the voting masses. They are tokens for the party which ushered them in. Despite the introduction of a limited open-list system in the April 5 general election, only one legislator was elected by a direct vote. The remainder won seats based on their ranking in the party lists.
Thus rather than the people's interest, the rationale of their exploits seem closer to Karl Marx's notion of "false consciousness" -- the people's desires are false as they don't know what they want and only these distinguished members of the assembly do.
The progeny of our second democratic general election may continue to erode our faith, but Indonesians must retain hope in the process for the ills of an "assembly" is not ours alone. It has been persistent through history.
Just as Plato over a thousand years ago remained faithful in the belief that the trouble with democracy was not due to the absence of the rule of law, but that the wrong people were running it -- those who have little virtues.
We may also take heart, as Mark Twain in typical satire wrote: "Suppose you were an idiot, and suppose you were a member of Congress, but I repeat myself!"
The author is a staff writer for The Jakarta Post.