Try enters debate, says members have dual responsibility

Try enters debate, says members have dual responsibility

JAKARTA (JP): Vice President Try Sutrisno yesterday stepped into the controversy about the role of the House of Representatives (DPR) stating that legislators represent both the people and the political organizations that appointed them.

Try made the remarks when he met with leaders of the Association of Catholic Students (PMKRI) at the Merdeka Selatan palace yesterday.

"The Vice President said we should not distinguish whether House members represent the people or a political organization. If we know the system, we'll know that they are working in the interest of the people," PMKRI chairman Antonius Doni said.

Minister of Home Affairs Moch. Yogie S.M. has also clarified his remarks on the issue, stating that House members represent both the political organizations and the people.

His chief spokesman in a statement said the minister's remarks suggesting that legislators represent the political organizations, which appeared in some newspapers on Tuesday, were incomplete.

However the minister failed to make clear where the loyalty of a legislators should go first -- the people or the political organization -- which is the crux of the debate.

Some legislators, who took particular offense at Yogie's first statement, have demanded that Yogie be reprimanded by President Soeharto for speaking out of line.

Political scientist Afan Gaffar of the Gadjah Mada University yesterday said Yogie's statement is degrading to the House and could further erode the trust of the people towards the institution, Antara reported.

"Can you imagine if the people no longer see DPR as representing them? Why would they bother with elections?" asked Afan, head of the Public Administration Studies of the School of Social and Political Sciences.

Using the same logic, the people would be right to question who the legislators represented when they elected the President and whose interest did they have in mind when they drafted and endorsed the national development programs? he asked.

His colleague from Gadjah Mada, Miftah Thoha, also warned that unless the government clarified its position quickly, more people would shun the next general election.

Meanwhile, Yogie's immediate predecessor Rudini said that although the legislators were appointed by the political organizations and not directly elected by the people, they still represent the people.

Rudini cited the 1985 law on general elections which clearly states that a general election is held to elect the representatives of the people in the House of Representatives.

The retired Army general who now heads a private think-tank group said that although the legislators are bound by the rules of the organizations that sent them to the House, this should not stop them from representing the interests of the people.

The current debate was sparked by the attempt to remove legislator Bambang Warih Koesoemo from the House by the dominant political group Golkar. House Speaker Wahono, who has the final say on the matter, has not decided.

Bambang, known for his outspokenness, and his supporters insist that he was representing the interests of the people when he criticized some government officials, the prime reason why Golkar want him out.

In the general elections, voters cast their ballots for one of the political organizations to determine the allocation of the 400 of the 500 seats in DPR. The other 100 seats are reserved for the Armed Forces whose members do not vote. Prior to the elections, the political organizations present their lists of candidates that would represent them in the House.

House Deputy Speaker H.J. Naro meanwhile said that the political organizations have every right to withdraw their legislators from the House, according to Antara.

The House Speaker must not get in the way of the organization's plans to change their representatives in the House, said Naro from the United Development Party (PPP).

The House's regulations required that political organizations consult with the House Speaker before withdrawing any legislator.

Naro argued that consultation here has been interpreted to mean informing the House Speaker and not seeking his permission as has often been case. (emb)