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)