Parliament needs prompt revamp, reform

Fahri Hamzah ,  Jakarta   |  Thu, 04/24/2008 12:26 PM  |  Opinion

The recent detention by the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) of a legislator allegedly involved in a graft case in Bintan, Riau Islands, is not a shocking incident, given all the similar incidents that have gone before.

Before legislator Al Amin Nasution there was former lawmaker Anthony Zeidra Abidin who was caught up in a scandal. Before that, two other legislators were dismissed for their alleged involvement in a sex scandal and pilgrimage catering scam, all putting public confidence in the legislative body at its lowest level.

Speaking frankly, the current House of Representatives has been in trouble since the very beginning in terms of organization, job description and performance.

Following its installment in October 2004, the House was plagued by the crippled leadership under Agung Laksono and the misperception of the role of the House speaker. Then the House leadership led the institution in accordance with its job descriptions and short and long-term targets. All this makes the House a part and cause of major national problems, and all legislators should accept this to achieve advancements in the last year of their terms.

With the 2009 general election nearing, all these problems need further discussion and evaluation in order to revamp the institution and repair its image and performance in the future.

Law No. 22/2003 on the composition and structure of the People's Consultative Assembly, the House, the Regional Representatives Council (DPD), and provincial and regency legislatures, gives legislators vast authority, numerous tasks and rights which have not been exercised optimally and sometimes have been abused.

In doing their legislative, control and budgetary functions, members of parliament (MPs) are equipped with inquiry and interpellation rights. But the vast authority and high remuneration are not followed by high productivity or performance and a good image in representing the people.

In fact, parliament has been found unproductive and less than effective in the policy- and decision-making process, control of the executive body and law enforcement.

The public clamor against the House is well founded and the source of the problem has to be uncovered. Effectiveness is lacking, which originates from both internal and external factors. Externally, the great expectations of voters may go far beyond the real capacity of legislators and their actual performance.

Despite the presence of the DPD, there has been no system of checks and balances inside the parliament because of the regional representatives' limited authority.

This situation has made the House a political player that has paid more attention to non-legislative functions, including less-than-productive supervision of the executive through hearings with ministers, field tours, inquiries and interpellation. All the crucial and major issues, such as rice imports, the BLBI scandal and human rights abuses, the House has investigated in the past four years have been left unresolved.

The division of commissions apart from the House's main functions has also posed a problem. The commissions should be subsumed under three groups to make MPs focused on their main functions, by allowing them to comprehend general topics in all fields. Now with 11 commissions, legislators are fragmented into diverse sectors. When they are required to account for their performance to the public (voters), they are only well versed in limited areas, while they have been elected to take care of all major issues, not to mention the considerable influence of political parties/factions.

Second, the legislative function as its main task has been neglected. This has a lot to do with the greater emphasis on the control function with numerous issues discussed with the government in commission hearings.

The low law-making productivity can be seen in the small number of endorsed bills. Out of 284 bills targeted to be completed in the 2005-2009 period, only 30 percent, or 85, have so far been endorsed and it is impossible to finish even 95 of the remaining 199 targeted this year since the general election is nearing. Even worse, several laws or certain contentious parts of laws have been annulled or reviewed by the Constitutional Court and numerous laws have been left overlapping.

To maximize the legislative function, improve the check-and-balance system inside the parliament and help repair its tarnished image, the number of commissions tasked to deliberate bills must be multiplied and either commissions or legislators should be assisted by expert staff and researchers to counter the well-equipped government in producing quality legislation.

Also, the DPD must be empowered through an amendment of the 1945 Constitution to strengthen the legislative function and help improve the parliament's performance.

Concrete measures must be taken to start repairing the House's image and performance gradually right now. The House leadership should design and unveil a blueprint of what the state institution could do in the next 12 months. Lawmakers could no longer turn a deaf ear to the increasing criticism. They should not wait until the people punish them in the upcoming legislative election. We do need immediate reform of the system of representation covering the vast archipelago with its 230 million people.

The writer is deputy chairman of the Prosperous Justice Party faction at the House of Representatives. He can be reached at fahrida@rad.net.id 

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