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More deputy speakers will make no difference: Lawmaker
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Newly installed House of Representatives Speaker Setya Novanto (center) stands along with four deputy speakers at the House building on Nov. 30, 2016. (kompas.com/Nabilla Tashandra)
A
n agreement between political parties to add one more deputy speaker at the House of Representatives as well as the People’s Consultative Assembly (MPR) raises questions about whether more leaders can actually improve the poor performance of the legislative institutions.
Some lawmakers say that the additional deputy speaker on top of the current four deputy speakers will have no impact on the decisions regarding the work of the institutions.
“The chairmanship never makes any decisions because it is the House’s internal bodies that make decisions [on policies],” said lawmaker Yandri Susanto of the National Mandate Party (PAN) on Thursday.
(Read also: Setya regains old post amid Dec. 2 anxiety)
The agreement to include the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) in the chairmanships of the House and the MPR is a result of a week-long lobbying among leaders of the 10 political factions in the legislative institution in an exchange of collective support for the return of Golkar Party chairman Setya Novanto as speaker of the House.
However, Bambang Wuryanto, the secretary of the PDI-P faction at the House said the ruling party could effectively endorse more populist policies by having its representatives among the leaders.
The current four deputy speakers are Fadli Zon from the Gerindra Party, Agus Hermanto from the Democratic Party, Taufik Kurniawan from PAN and Fahri Hamzah from the Prosperous Justice Party. (jun)
