Weak position of the House criticized
Weak position of the House criticized
JAKARTA (JP): Flaws in the implementation of the 1945 Constitution have deprived the House of Representatives of its role as a check and balance, political analysts say.
Burhan Magenda, a lecturer at the University of Indonesia's School of Social and Political Sciences said in a discussion here yesterday that the Constitution, which he called "executive- heavy", had made it easy for irregularities to occur.
The discussion was organized by the Association of Indonesian Catholic Students.
Nico Daryanto, a member of the People's Consultative Assembly and former secretary general of the Indonesian Democratic Party said that despite the circumstances, irregularities would not occur if the executive branch of government had the goodwill and conscience to serve the people.
"I don't think altering the system is the answer to the problem. It really depends on the commitment of those in the executive body," Nico said.
Attended by some 50 members of the student group and other students, the discussion sought to assess the current condition of the House of Representatives.
Nico pointed out that 15 articles of the 1945 Constitution are concerned with the executive body -- including the head of state -- while only three refer to the House of Representatives.
"This shows how underpowered and insignificant the legislative body's position is... It also shows that, if only by default, the Constitution delivers abundant power to the head of state," he said, citing articles four to 15 of the Constitution on the powers of the government.
Giving an example of ambiguity, Nico pointed to the situation of administrations at the provincial and city levels. Local administrations consist, according to law, of an executive body and a local legislative council.
"How is the council expected to control the administration if it is part of the it?" Nico asked.
Despite the articles in the Constitution guaranteeing the legislative body's right to control the administration, initiate legislation and determine the budget, the position of the head of state is much stronger in the decision-making process, Nico said.
Given this situation, he said, the legislative body has no way of implementing its constitutional right of control.
However, Burhan still sees opportunities for the legislative body to sponsor bills. He said if legislators wanted to exercise their right to initiate legislation, they could easily do so by, for example, proposing an anti-monopoly bill or a bill defending small and medium-sized businesses, which the public has long demanded.
He said a good step towards making the legislative body more effective would be to employ more experts with a greater ability to criticize the government's proposals, "instead of just listening to a minister's statements."
Burhan said the House of Representatives should become a viable and more respectable body and must play a bigger role because it is the partner, not the subordinate, of the administration. (pwn)