Training local legislators a must

By Aleksius Jemadu

BANDUNG (JP): Many political analysts believe that as the process of democratization continues to evolve, the country's politics will shift from a strong executive to a dominant legislative. There are even predictions that the role of the legislative body will determine government stability.

However, we must make a clear distinction between the legislative as an institution and the legislative as a group of people's representatives formally assigned to carry out essential political tasks.

The distinction is particularly important for local legislative bodies (DPRD), especially at the regency/mayoralty level (DPRD II). Given the increasing importance of the regions in development management after former president Soeharto's era of centralistic governance, greater attention should be given to the quality and integrity of legislators at the subnational levels. Furthermore, the application of Law No. 22/1999 on the autonomy of local administrations requires the empowerment of government institutions at the regional level.

There are, at least, two reasons why training of new legislators before their installation is of paramount importance. First, Indonesia is facing a new era where structural differentiation in politics will determine the performance of the government. Structural differentiation is concerned with a clear division of tasks among the three traditional branches of government -- the executive, legislative and judiciary -- in such a way as to ensure not only the effectiveness of their respective tasks, but also the public accountability of the governing process.

For instance, the legislative body, both at the provincial and regency levels, should be able to control the executive power (governor, regent/mayor) so that the latter might give a higher priority to the aspirations of the people rather than blindly submitting to the wishes of central government officials.

In the past, the role of subnational legislative bodies was systematically marginalized by the central government, which wanted to make sure that its political and economic goals were given highest priority. The domination of the then ruling party, Golkar, over the legislative bodies was used by the central political regime to paralyze the supervisory role of legislators as individual representatives and a political institution. People's representatives from Golkar were there not so much to control the executive, but to justify its policies. They ran the risk of being dismissed if they tried to be critical of government policies. The cooptation of the subnational legislative bodies by the central government was so effective that rampant abuse of power by local government officials went unpunished and became normal practice.

With the decline of the power of the state and the empowerment of the civil society in the post-Soeharto era, the regional legislative bodies are expected to be more independent and active.

Such a prerequisite can only be met if legislative members have good knowledge of major development problems in their respective regions. For instance, legislators in some resource- rich provinces like Aceh, East Kalimantan, Riau and Irian Jaya should have an answer how to use their abundant financial resources for the greatest benefit of the people in those regions. If not, there will be a new danger of centralization of economic power at the local level.

On the other hand, in resource-poor provinces such as West Sumatra, Bengkulu and East Nusa Tenggara, local legislators should be able to encourage the executive to find different sources of funds, especially from foreign partners.

The regions also should anticipate the coming of the era of free trade, under the ASEAN Free Trade Area (AFTA) and the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum.

When there is a huge imbalance in the appropriation of economic resources (capital, technology and information) among different economic actors, the weaker parties will tend to be victimized by the stronger ones. Economic regionalization and globalization tend to be biased against the interests of poor regions; one only has to look at what the multinational corporations and national companies have done to the natural resources of Kalimantan and Irian Jaya over the last three decades. If there is not prudent foresight, the resource-base of the people in Aceh, North Sumatra and Riau will be under serious threat from predatory giant enterprises in Singapore.

To complement the criterium of knowledgeability of the new legislators, major political parties need to equip them with training in political ethics.

There is a growing tendency for the future selection of public officials to be based on a merit system rather than nepotistic relations. Involvement in political parties will become an attractive profession, with accompanying tough competition among many candidates. Capable and appropriately behaved legislators are real assets for any political party which aspires to win people's support in elections.

Conversely, unqualified and immoral legislators are a great liability for political parties in a merit-based society.

The second reason for the urgency of well-planned training for legislators at the provincial and regency level is related to the fact that most of them are newcomers to the legislative bodies. Political parties which win the elections at the provincial level will play an important role in regional development. For instance, the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan) dominates the legislative bodies in West Java both at the provincial and regency levels. Most of PDI Perjuangan's legislative members in this region do not have an outstanding level of formal education; many of them even lack a university degree. It is the responsibility of party leaders to convince the people in West Java that their legislators are sufficiently capable in doing their job.

It goes without saying that the party's credibility will be at stake if its legislators perform disappointingly. Moreover, because of its victory in the elections, PDI Perjuangan will play an important role in the new government. As a dominant party, PDI Perjuangan will have to deal with criticism and condemnation from outside. Many believe criticism against PDI Perjuangan as a dominant party will start where criticism against Golkar ends.

How can political parties organize training for their legislators? As far as materials for training is concerned, a distinction should be made between technical and substantive knowledge. Technical knowledge consists of the explanation of basic functions of political parties, which includes interest aggregation and articulation.

In addition, the legislators are expected to know what it means to be an effective people's representative. The legislators should equip themselves with a capacity to understand the aspirations of the people and channel them to the executive power. If necessary, they can conduct a survey to gauge the will of the people.

Substantive knowledge consists of an explanation of the political party's own policy platform and major development problems in a region. For instance, West Java is known to be a mixture of urban industrialized areas and agricultural areas. Can the development of these two types of areas be carried out in a complementary way? Is there any correlation between the industrialization of West Java and the expansion of poverty enclaves in this province? A professional legislator ought to master both technical and substantive knowledge.

Party leaders may establish close cooperation with universities and research institutions in many big cities. For instance, PDI Perjuangan leaders in West Java may ask different policy centers in Bandung, such as at Parahyangan University, Padjadjaran University or the Bandung Institute of Technology, to develop a training package for its legislators.

Political scientists and economists in the higher education institutions can help political parties prepare their legislators before they do their job.

The professionalism of legislators at the regional level will determine whether our political reform has meaning for the well- being of the entire Indonesian population. Otherwise, political reform would amount to nothing more than a high-level intellectual conspiracy against the grassroots.

The writer is a lecturer in the Department of International Relations of Parahyangan Catholic University in Bandung.