Arya Fernandes (JP/Dhoni Setiawan)

Despite an end to the intense protests against the House of Representatives spearheaded by university students over the past week, there does not appear to be much public enthusiasm for the newly elected lawmakers or a great deal of faith in their ability to represent the national interest for the next five years.

The 575 lawmakers were inaugurated amid high tensions outside the House's compound in Senayan, Central Jakarta, last Wednesday as students and members of various organizations took to the streets in protest of contentious bills and the controversial passing of a revised Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) Law.

The lawmakers from nine political parties secured their seats after passing the legislative threshold during the 2019 legislative election held concurrently for the first time with the presidential election in April.

According to data from the General Elections Commission (KPU), 321 of the 575 lawmakers — 56 percent of the total number — are incumbent lawmakers who served during the 2014-2019 period.

Indonesian Parliament Watch (Formappi) found that the high number of incumbents was a result of their success in wooing voters in their respective electoral districts through their political work.

However, Formappi also noticed that elections had yet to show any signs of reward or punishment for lawmakers. Researcher Lucius Karus pointed out that the House’s poor performance in the previous term did not deter voters from reelecting the same politicians in this year’s election.

During the previous term, the House only passed 91 bills into law — less than half the target of 189 bills set in the 2014-2019 National Legislation Program (Prolegnas).

Of these 36 were priority bills, while the remainder were “cumulative open” bills, consisting mostly of international agreements and existing government regulations.

The number of passed bills was lower than in the previous term, when House members passed 125 of 247 bills set out in the 2009-2014 Prolegnas.

Other concerns relate to the fact that many lawmakers serving for the next five years have substantial business portfolios, with 146 lawmakers recorded as being businesspeople in private corporations.

Hendri Satrio, a political observer from Paramadina University, said this might lead to conflicts of interest as he feared that lawmakers could use their position in the House to seek government projects for their companies.

“These House members should pay more attention to the state and the people, rather than working for the interests of the market,” Hendri said on Monday.

In terms of gender, only 117 lawmakers — 21 percent of the House members — are female.

Association for Elections and Democracy (Perludem) director Titi Anggraini believes the low representation might hinder lawmakers from deliberating bills supporting gender equality, such as the much-anticipated sexual violence
eradication bill.

The House has long been one of the least trusted institutions in the country, with several surveys showing a lack of public trust in the legislative body, especially amid a series of arrests of lawmakers in graft cases.

This distrust spiked recently when lawmakers of the 2014-2019 term rushed or attempted to rush through several bills, including the highly controversial revision of the KPK Law that many believe would neutralize the antigraft body, which is one of the most trusted national institutions according to many surveys.

These dubious moves by lawmakers led to thousands of people across the country protesting against the government of President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo and the House. They demanded that both institutions stop the deliberation of problematic bills and focus on passing more relevant and urgent bills.

Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) political analyst Arya Fernandes said both the House and political parties would need to engage in reforms in order to regain the public's trust and improve their performance, including by enforcing party discipline on “lazy” lawmakers.

“Moreover, the Legislative Institutions [MD3] Law should be amended to give each lawmaker more autonomy to push for public aspirations,” Arya said.

House Speaker Puan Maharani from the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) said she and other House leaders would work to improve the legislative body’s reputation.

“Whatever happens at the House, the five House leaders will prioritize the nation’s interests for the people,” she said in a statement.

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