(tempo english) DPR as a Kindergarten: Nursery Crime

12/12/2018

President Abdurrahman Wahid did not go too far when during his administration he described the House of Representatives (DPR) as a "kindergarten". The conduct of the 2014-2019 DPR legislators in the past few weeks, including one irate person kicking a table during a plenary session, has been pretty embarrassing, not to mention the creation of a 'shadow DPR leadership'. It is infantile behavior which could be most damaging to the public interest if it is not immediately resolved.

It all began with the enactment of the Legislative Institution Law, known as the MD3 Law, in July. This law made it easier for the parties supporting Prabowo (Gerindra, Golkar, the National Mandate Party, Justice and Prosperity Party and the Democrat Party) to take control of the DPR and People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) leadership positions by proposing a packet system (five members must be supported by five party factions), a cunning strategy that contradicts the principles of democracy, and which in turn had a negative impact on the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) and its supporters.

Tensions arose just after the inauguration of the president and vice president. Prabowo Subianto attended the inauguration of his political rival and gave him a military salute, but this did not affect anything except Prabowo's image. The real test came when the DPR was faced with power. Would they be able to implement the people's mandate or would they end up playing a zero-sum game?

During discussions about DPR positions, there was a difference of opinion regarding the commission membership. Two United Development Party (PPP) managers believed that the legitimate PPP chairman was Romahurmuziy, because the Justice and Human Rights Ministry had approved the new leadership. However, the DPR leadership only recognized the composition of commissions that had been proposed by Suryadharma Ali's group.

This incident was also the result of the DPR leaders' stance, which refused to hear the opinions of those it saw as 'opponents'. There was no reason at all for the DPR leaders to recognize only the commission membership proposals submitted by the Suryadharma Ali group. The dispute reached a peak when the PDI-P, National Awakening Party (PKB), National Democrat, PPP (United Development Party) and Hanura factions declared a motion of no confidence and established a 'shadow DPR leadership'.

The DPR is one of the pillars of democracy. There was no need for the PDI-P faction and its supporters to establish a 'shadow DPR leadership' because their aims of representing the voice of the people and being a partner of the government will not be realized as long as they are outside the Constitution. But the protest and challenge from the PDI-P faction and its supporters needed to be heard by their 'opponents'.

The DPR leaders and their supporting factions cannot simply view the DPR as being under their control. It is time they and their supporters stopped treating the body as an arena for disputes between the Prabowo and the Jokowi groups. The legislators have been given a mandate by the people. Their leaders are the people, not their party chairmen.

This heated state of affairs must be cooled down through negotiations between the two opposing sides. If they want to restore public trust and uphold the dignity of the DPR, they should show that legislators are not only politicians representing the voters, but also mature and sportsmanlike adults.

JejakParlemen

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(tempo english) DPR as a Kindergarten: Nursery Crime