S

easoned Golkar Party politician Ade Komarudin was appointed House of Representatives speaker in January in the hope of bringing together the polarized and dysfunctional legislature, which only passed three laws in its first year. Known for his accommodative political style, Ade earned President Joko '€œJokowi'€ Widodo'€™s approval to lead the House. He talks to The Jakarta Post'€™s Nurul Fitri Ramadhani, Tama Salim and Adisti Sukma Sawitri about how he balances his role as a supporter of the government and the leading voice of the legislative body. The speaker'€™s position is also his strongest asset in the upcoming Golkar chairmanship race. Here are excerpts from the interview.

Question: How has the House progressed so far this year?

Answer: The key to good governance is a good relationship between the legislature and the executive, in which we should demonstrate constructive deeds and mind-sets.

We can see that the House is not as unruly as it was before I took on the chairmanship. Since the House inaugurated me on Jan. 11 until the second plenary session on March 17, it has passed six bills. This is a good achievement.

What is the key to this achievement?

It'€™s just like talking with you. I talk casually, like this, to all friends in factions, commissions and inquiry committees. I keep doing that, communicating with them. Sometimes I become fussy and pushy with them, but I guess that'€™s fine. Talking is my only weapon.

How do you manage to gather strong support from the factions?

I'€™m one lucky man. Smart, clever and deceitful people are nothing compared to the lucky ones. I'€™m lucky that God has mandated me the speakership position and that I have been supported by [Golkar Party chairman] Aburizal Bakrie.

What made me more lucky was both the pro-government Great Indonesia Coalition (KIH) and the opposition Red-and-White Coalition (KMP) and all 10 factions in the House also supported me. None of them objected during my inauguration.

That'€™s because I'€™m lucky, not because I'€™m great or anything. To me, it'€™s the wrong mind-set if a politician wants to become rich, unless they want to become thieves. If they want to make a lot of money, they should be businessmen. The output of being a politician is power. They should get more and more power by influencing people.

How do you influence people?

I need to get along with many people and be honest. I'€™m not a rich man. Honesty is my best bet.

If you are elected as Golkar chairman, will you continue Golkar'€™s and the House'€™s support for the government?

Basically, Golkar has no talent for being in opposition, because it was born to be in power and manage the government. There are 560 politicians at the House, so it will remain dynamic. We can'€™t kill democracy. Differences are common, we should not resist that.

About the tax amnesty bill, why is it taking so long to pass the bill when in fact it'€™s one of this year'€™s priorities? What is the main obstacle?

All I can say is that the public doesn'€™t need to know how we process it. It'€™s dirty work. It'€™s like a tofu factory, with all the sweat and everything unpleasant underneath.

You just enjoy the result. We will start the deliberation of the bill after the recess period and finish it in at least two weeks. We will pass the bill before the revision of the state budget in June.

Let the legislators handle the political process. The public need not know much about it, unless they want to feel disgusted.

Have you coordinated with related financial authorities? How close are you with them?

I have talked with Finance Minister Bambang Brodjonegoro. He is a very humble, clever man. Indonesia is lucky to have him as Finance Minister. He knows how to build good relations and communicate with the legislative body.

Yes, I am close to him because we are about the same age. The public does not need to worry about the tax amnesty bill. I guarantee that it will soon become law.

What other goals does the House want to achieve in the next sitting period?

We want to push forward the plan to build the House'€™s library. The plan is in line with the House'€™s building construction project, the funds for which have been allocated this year.

People are cynical and have opposed the building construction, but with such a good cause, to provide everyone with a source of knowledge. I would not understand if people still opposed it.

We may allocate additional funding for it, but the most important thing is that the construction project should start soon.

What about the controversial revision of the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) Law? Isn'€™t that also a part of the deal?

We have made an agreement with President Jokowi to delay the revision for an unspecified period of time and disseminate more information to the public.

Basically, the government agreed. But the public got vociferous about the proposal to grant the KPK investigation-termination rights, then they backed off.

Let the government, particularly the Office of the Coordinating Political, Legal and Security Affairs Minister as well as Law and Human Rights Ministry do the dissemination.

When will the dissemination be sufficient to continue the deliberation?

We'€™ve no deadline, but I guess we'€™ll continue the deliberation if the public and media are no longer in an uproar.

On the investigation-termination warrants, or SP3, the KPK should have the authority to issue them, otherwise we will see many people dying as graft suspects. Wouldn'€™t you feel sorry for them? What if it happened to our relatives?

The supervisory committee to monitor the work of the antigraft body is also needed. Right now, the KPK is the only institution in the country that has no supervisory committee and it'€™s very powerful.

The President, who is elected by the voters, works under the supervision of 560 legislators. How come the KPK, whose leaders are only proposed by the President and selected by the House, rejects supervision?

Who should sit in the supervisory committee?

It could be anyone, whether proposed by the President or the House, we may discuss the mechanism later. The most important thing is that the antigraft body must work under a supervisory committee.