Troubled regional representatives

It is the regional representatives issue that sparked a fight during the first day of the Annual Session of the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR). Those who claimed to be representatives of the provinces lost their temper because their wish to form the Regional Representatives Faction (FUD) was blocked by most legislators.

If we read it carefully, the name "regional representatives" itself bears a problem. The word "representatives" implies that they were not elected, but in fact they were. They claim that they do not represent a political party but they are in fact backed by political parties.

"Regional representatives" has a conceptual defect. Provinces which should have been represented by political parties, have other representatives in the regional domain. Besides, in the current situation, regional representatives could sow the seeds of disintegration.

There are more regional representatives than members of the Reform Faction but the Assembly does not wish to group them into a faction. If that is the case, it should join other political party factions, because, in fact, they are also representatives of political parties.

This is the problem if we debate on a political fact which has a confusing concept. It seems that Indonesian politics is enjoying unnecessary complexity.

-- Media Indonesia, Jakarta