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)