Who do legislators represent?

Who do legislators represent?

Representation is a key word in any general election. Could
those elected to represent the people really represent people's
interests? This is the question being dealt with by J. Soedjati
Djiwandono of the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

JAKARTA (JP): It has become almost everybody's slogan in this
country "to make the general election a success", although it
certainly means different things to different people with their
own set of criteria. The same is true of those who don't want to
make it successful, who are often scrutinized by various groups
in society.

Whatever the case, however, it seems almost certain that the
election will ultimately sustain the present status quo. It is a
forlorn hope that the election will result in a People's
Consultative Assembly (MPR) which will include members of the
House of Representatives who will be interested in political
reform.

It is even doubtful if most members of the new assembly, which
is supposed to be the supreme governing body in the Indonesian
political system provided under the 1945 Constitution, know much
about reform, recognize the need for it, know how to implement
it, or have the courage to introduce the idea and initiate steps
towards it.

Long before the election, their candidacy was approved by the
government through a special screening (litsus), which makes the
election a mockery of democracy.

Thus it is to be expected that their allegiance is considered
important to the present government, although in their rhetoric
they usually pledge their loyalty to the Pancasila state ideology
and the 1945 Constitution (in itself a redundant term, for
Pancasila already forms an integral part of the Constitution), or
to the New Order and its ideals, however defined and understood.
The present regime seems to be perceived as representing all
these.

In this country, we seem to have been wrongly taught that we
have to remain loyal to the "state", and often this means the
"government". In many respects, of course, the government does
represent the state, especially in an external relation.

Strictly speaking, however, the government is only one
component of the state. And governments, which in democracy is
the creation of the people, come and go, while the two other
components of the state, the land (country) and its people (the
nation), will always remain. A citizen's constant loyalty,
therefore, is to his or her country (fatherland) and people
(nation). Loyalty to a government depends on the government's
behavior.

During the last days of campaigning in the recent election
in Great Britain, there was a discussion with Sir David Steel,
founder of the former Liberal Party, by international calls
organized and broadcast by CNN. One caller raised the issue of
party discipline, by which party members tend to simply follow
the party line. Sir David responded by saying that one must above
all listen to one's own conscience, and then to one's
constituency. Only then should one listen to one's party.

That is a lesson for Indonesian politicians. Unfortunately,
in this country a "constituency" is more a myth than reality.
Most members of MPR are various types of carpetbaggers. Their
conscience may have been blunted by the confusion of values.

Still, to keep optimism alive, I have a dream, however
remotely improbable it may be in it becoming true. It is often
said that Indonesia is a country where nothing is impossible,
anything is possible, and anything "can be arranged". The late
former U.S. Ambassador to Indonesia, Howard Jones, gave his
memoir in an apt and intriguing title: Indonesia: The Possible
Dream (1971).

Thomas Becket was a well-known figure in 12th century Britain.
Acting as a complete courtier, close companion, and chancellor of
King Henry II, Becket conformed in most respects to the whims of
the king. But following the death of Becket's patron Theobald in
1161, the Archbishop of Canterbury who had made him archdeacon,
the king made the mistake of placing Becket into the vacancy,
assuming that Becket would support him in curtailing church
power.

Consecrated as archbishop the following year, Becket not only
assumed an austerity of conduct appropriate to the course he
chose to follow, but he stood his ground as a staunch defender of
the Church and its interests, in defiance of the king, which
ultimately cost him his life.

I dream, against all odds, of the emergence of the Beckets of
Indonesia, those who, although picked by the government, will
truly represent the people by giving voice to their aspirations.
Again, just a dream.