Ironic. That is the word that occurs when we talk about the Regional Representatives Council (DPD). The legislative body is the representative of regions at the central level.
When some residents of Ponorogo regency, East Java, fell victim to a landslide, there was no news about any East Javanese regional representatives who sympathized with their suffering. A senator from East Java, Ahmad Nawardi, even embarrassed himself on Monday (3/4) in the DPD in Senayan by trying to grab a microphone from DPD deputy chairperson Gusti Kanjeng Ratu (GKR) Hemas, who presided over a meeting.
Nawardi, together with a number of DPD members, did not want to voice the interests of their regional residents, but only to question the DPD leaders. GKR Hemas and Farouk Muhammad were considered to be no longer entitled to lead because their terms were up. A number of DPD members wanted a change of leadership at the institution.
The DPD meeting became unruly. There was violence that was reported to the police with some DPD members pointing fingers at others. The commotion lasted until Monday night.
This is not the first commotion in the DPD. In March last year, the leadership of DPD was questioned by other members, thereby causing tension. It continued on April 11, 2016, when a number of DPD members insisted on a leadership change. There were members who wanted to maintain the leadership under Irman Gusman, who had been detained by the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK).
At the DPD plenary meeting on early Tuesday morning, as a number of members continued questioning the validity of the leadership, a new DPD leadership was established, with Oesman Sapta Odang as the chairman and Nono Sampono and Darmayanti Lubis as deputy chairpersons. Actually the DPD rules that limit the tenure of a leader to two-and-a-half years had been canceled by the Supreme Court (MA). However, the leadership of MA was present to witness the swearing in of the new DPD leadership. MA seemed to have ignored its own decision.
The new leadership has dragged the DPD into an uncertain situation to be either a regional representative institution or a representative of parties, like the House of Representatives (DPR). Oesman Sapta is the general chairman of the People\'s Conscience Party (Hanura). More than half of the 132 regional representatives are members of political parties or have backgrounds in parties. This situation is different from regional representatives.
The DPD is becoming increasingly powerless to express and struggle for the interests of the regions. On July 1, 2013, this newspaper called the DPD the “Most Silent Council” because it made the least noise for the interests of the people, compared to other representative institutions, as revealed in the media. In the future, the DPD may be getting worse because the commotions continue. This is ironic because the DPD was one of the fruits of reform.
