IO, Jakarta – 711 Members of the DPR, DPD and MPR for 2019-2024 were inaugurated at a plenary meeting Tuesday (01/10/2019). The meeting was opened by the leadership of Abdul Wahab Dalimunthe (80 years of age) from the Democratic Faction and Hillary Brigitta Lasut from the NasDem Faction (23 years old). A number of figures were present, ranging from Indonesian President Joko Widodo (Jokowi), Indonesian Vice President Jusuf Kalla, elected Vice-President Ma’ruf Amin, PDIP Chairperson Megawati Soekarno Putri, Chairperson of the NasDem Party Party Surya Paloh, former Speaker of the DPR as well as Golkar Politician Akbar Tandjung, Democratic Politician Agus Harimurti Yudhoyono Chairperson of KPU Arief Budiman, Head of BIN Budi Gunawan, and National Police Chief Gen. Tito Karnavian, TNI Commander Marshal Hadi Tjahjanto to DKI Jakarta Governor Anies Baswedan.
In addition to inaugurating members of the DPR, DPD and MPR, in the evening there was an inauguration of the Chair and 4 Deputy Chairmen of the 2019-2024 DPR period held by PDIP politician Puan Maharani, Golkar politician Aziz Syamsuddin, Gerindra politician Sufmi Dasco, NasDem politician Rahmat Gobel, and PKB politician Muhaimin Iskandar. Meanwhile, the Chairman of the DPD RI is La Nyalla, former chairman of the 2015-2016 PSSI. “Speaker and Deputy Speaker of the DPR 2019- 2024 are chosen based on the results of the 2019 legislative election. The parties entitled to get the chair of the DPR are PDIP, Golkar, Gerindra, NasDem, and PKB. PDIP has the right to get the seat of the DPR Speaker because it came out as the winner of the 2019 Election,” Abdul Wahab said.
In addition to the Speaker of the DPR being held by the first woman, there is also one of the youngest female members. From 575 DPR members, the representation of women representatives rose to 118 members from the previous period which only numbered 97 female DPR members.
The elected Speaker of the Indonesian Parliament Puan Maharani in her inaugural address emphasized the necessity of a collegial collective spirit to build the Republic of Indonesia. Only through a spirit of cooperation, as the view of the life of the Indonesian people and sincere intentions, can all members of the Indonesian Parliament carry out their mandate as a people’s representative. “God willing, our five leaders can bring the DPR to better carry out their duties in cooperation. We agree that whatever will happen in the DPR, we will prioritize the interests of the nation for the interests of the people,” said Puan, after being ratified as the Speaker of the Indonesian Parliament.
Former DPR Speaker from the Golkar Faction Akbar Tanjung hopes that the newly-appointed board members will be able to carry out their duties as representatives of the people from legislative, supervisory to budgeting functions. “We hope that the new DPR members provide new hope for the people,” he explained.
In line with Akbar, Golkar Party Faction DPR Member Christina Aryani proposed to plan legislative targets more realistically, based on events that already happened. “Hopefully, cooperation between the Government and the DPR can always run in harmony, better so that what is planned in the future can be carried out properly. Because there are many young people, the energy should be even higher,” she stressed.
Meanwhile, members of the Indonesian House of Representatives were elected from the Democratic National Faction (Nasdem) Taufik Basari who wants to restore public confidence in the House of Representatives. “I was appointed today in the context of a demonstration situation that is happening everywhere. This action even leads to public distrust of the House of Representatives; for that, we must restore public trust through real work,” he said.
PDIP politician Arteria Dahlan said he was optimistic that the new council members would provide hope for the people. The reason is that some members of the council are Millennials who will make a difference. “As a young generation we have the spirit to develop the country,” he explained.
Executive Director of Voxpol Center Research & Consulting, Pangi Syarwi Chaniago said that most of the public considered the performance of the DPR to be unsatisfactory; therefore, he hoped the newly-appointed Counsil members would be able to fight for the aspirations of the people they represent. He also hoped the 2019-2024 DPR members must be able to balance the government in terms of policymaking. Even though in the seat counts in parliament, the party supporting the government is more than the opposition. “Don’t let the DPR only become a rubber stamp for the government. Now we don’t feel the power in parliament, we can even say that there is almost no opposition in the DPR now,” Pangi said.
A political expert from Pelita Harapan University, Emrus Sihombing, asserted that there would be no significant difference between the members of the Republic of Indonesia who had just been appointed and the previous period’s representatives. “It’s hard to expect breakthroughs in terms of legislation, budgeting and controlling even though 49% of the 2019-2024 DPR members are new faces,” he explained. According to him, what convinces him is that the newly-appointed DPR members are not figures who are encouraged by the community to become representatives of the people, but rather those who are put forward by political parties. (Dan)