Training local legislators a must

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.