Worrisome signals from new House legislators

Worrisome signals from new House legislators

Harry Bhaskara, The Jakarta Post

The new members of the House of Representatives have become
embroiled in a power struggle less than a month after taking
their seats. The People's Coalition in the 550-strong House urged
government officials over the weekend to ignore invitations from
its rival Nationhood Coalition. The week before that, the
People's Coalition, which supports President Susilo Bambang
Yudhoyono, boycotted the House plenary meeting that was supposed
to elect the chairs of the House's 11 commissions and five other
auxiliary bodies.

The House is divided almost evenly between the two coalitions,
with the Nationhood Coalition, which supported Megawati
Soekarnoputri in her failed bid in the Sept. 20 presidential
election, having only a few more seats.

Outside of the coalitions, the faction of the Nation Awakening
Party (PKB) -- which is usually allied with the Nationhood
Coalition -- often swings between the rival coalitions as the
occasion dictates.

This is bad news for people who long for decent
representatives in the House, and a warning to the new government
that the going might be tough. The expectation that the new House
members would exude a fresh and clean image, especially with so
many new faces, is now in limbo.

The People's Coalition blamed its rival faction for changing
the rules in the race for the commissions chairs when it
boycotted the Oct. 20 plenary session.

With 10 factions in total, the House has only 547 members,
three short of 550 because three legislators have yet to be
installed due to some legal troubles.

The Nationhood Coalition comprises the factions of the Golkar
Party, the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), the
Prosperous Peace Party (PDS) and the Star Reform Party (PBR),
with a total seats of 275. Megawati Soekarnoputri lost her bid
for reelection in the Sept. 20 presidential election despite the
support of these parties.

The People's Coalition comprises five factions, including the
United Development Party (PPP), the Democratic Party, the
Prosperous Justice Party (PKS), the National Mandate Party (PAN)
and the Democratic Pioneer Star (BPD), with a total of 233 seats.
Apart from the PPP, which initially belonged to the Nationhood
Coalition, these parties supported Susilo in the presidential
election.

The PKB faction decided to tilt toward the Nationhood
Coalition on the commission leadership issue.

The tussle in the House began in the third week of October,
after the election of the House leaders. Initially, all of the
factions agreed to pick the leaders of the commissions and five
other auxiliary bodies based on the proportion of the parties'
seats in the House. With the most seats in the House, Golkar
would get four commission chairmanships and 11 deputy
chairmanships. The second biggest faction, PDI-P, would get three
chairmanships and nine deputy chairmanships, while the PPP,
Democratic Party and PAN would get two chairmanship posts each,
and the PKB one.

The PKB rejected this scheme, saying the division of the posts
was unfair. Holding 52 seats it demanded two commission
chairmanship posts, the same as PAN which has 53 seats. Some of
the smaller factions also wanted more leadership posts.

When the suggestion was tabled that the posts be voted on, the
Nationhood Coalition agreed as the voting would favor them. But
with only 232 members in the 550-strong House, the People's
Coalition could smell defeat and refused to attend the session.

Interestingly, during the Oct. 20 boycotted plenary session,
the Nationhood Coalition and the PKB faction unilaterally
endorsed the members of the House's 11 commissions and its five
auxiliary bodies.

The boycott by the People's Coalition continued on Oct. 21 and
Oct. 22, when only the Nationhood Coalition and the PKB faction
showed up to select the chairs and deputy chairs of the House
commissions.

Pundits are debating the legality of the selections, as there
is a ruling in the House requiring more than half of the House
members from more than half of the factions be present for a
decision to be considered legal.

The rivalry between the Nationhood Coalition and the People's
Coalition dates back to the Sept. 20 presidential election. The
pro-Susilo People's Coalition was set up in response to the
establishment of the Nationhood Coalition by heavyweight parties
like Golkar and PDI-P to support Megawati. It is a rivalry that
is not going to go away very soon.

The pendulum-like position of the PKB in the House is
attributable to the failure of Susilo to win the support of the
party. Susilo succeeded in winning many allies for his party, the
small and little-known Democratic Party, but the PKB, which is
closely associated with the Nahdlatul Ulama, the nation's biggest
Islam organization, rejected his approaches. True that two PKB
leaders, Alwi Shihab and Saifullah Yusuf, are now in Susilo's
Cabinet, but former president Abdurrahman "Gus Dur" Wahid, the
prominent Muslim scholar and PKB co-founder, still holds clout in
the party.

Sad as it may be, the House saga is not a surprise. The
previous House members, who ended their terms on Sept. 31, 2004,
like their predecessors were always seen in an unsavory light.
Among the reasons for this were the ever-persistent rumors of
money politics. It is widely believed that certain commissions
are perceived as more "lucrative" than others, hence the
wrangling over leadership for those commissions, forgetting the
fact that the leaders' main function is merely as the
commissions' spokesmen.

What is surprising is the fact that this internal tussle
occurred so early and over such apparently trivial matters. If
serving the people was high on the members' agenda, why this
wrangling for the leadership of the commissions?

The boycotts and all the other games have stalled House
activities and delayed some urgent matters, such as the
replacement of the Indonesian Military (TNI) chief, which must
still be discussed.

It seems likely that more heated political wrangling is in
store. The early days of Susilo's government will likely be
anything but smooth sailing.