Democracy of Buying and Selling

KOMPAS/WAWAN H PRABOWO

Rows of empty seats fills the House of Representatives (DPR) plenary meeting on Tuesday (17/9/2019) at the Senayan legislative complex, Jakarta. The legislature passed into law the Revision to Law No. 30/2002 on the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK Law) at the meeting.

Two laws passed by the House of Representatives (DPR) at the end of its members\' tenure are further indications of the true character of the DPR.

Politics has become simply a commodity to be traded. Democracy now deals only with buying and selling. The government and the DPR\'s agreement to revise the Legislative Institutions (MD3) Law, covering the People’s Consultative Assembly (MPR), the House of Representatives (DPR), the Regional Representatives Council (DPD) and the Regional Legislative Council (DPRD), is a glaring example of how the character of power works in the division of power. The revision of the MD3 Law increases the number of MPR leaders from five to10.

Home Minister TjahjoKumolo said the increase in MPR leadership would make the Assembly more effective. However, the minister\'s argument is flawed. If the intention really is to improve deliberation, why does the DPD, which has 136 members, have only one element of leadership? The number of DPD members in the MPR is far greater than the seats of political party factions in the MPR.

It is clear that revision of the MD3 Law is simply aimed at sharing power, which will be a burden on the state budget. There are other possible political scenarios. For example, re-establishing the MPR as the highest state institution that can draw up State Policy Guidelines and once again make the election of the president the mandate of the MPR. This possibility has been mentioned before (Kompas, Aug. 5, 2019). Political attitude toward changing the Constitution has become a condition for candidates to chair the MPR.

The move by the DPR to revise the MD3 Law could prove to be ethically problematic. Take the principle in court of nemojudexidoneus in propriacausa (no one can be a judge in his own case). Under such a condition, the DPR is using its authority to add seats to the leadership of the MPR, which in fact is its ally.

KOMPAS/P RADITYA MAHENDRA YASA

House of Representatives Legislation Body (Baleg) chairman Supratman Andi Agtas (left) clasps hands with Justice and Human Rights Minister Yasonna Laoly after submitting a summary report on the deliberations over the Amendment to Law No. 30/2002 on the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) Law on Tuesday (17/9/2019), during the House plenary meeting at the Senayan legislative complex, Jakarta. The DPR and the government agreed during the meeting to pass the KPK Bill into law.

On another front, the government and the DPR also approved the revision of the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) Law. The revised KPK Law undermines the authority of the KPK leadership and makes a supervisory council the new "ruler" of the KPK. All action taken by the KPK, such as wiretapping, seizures and searches, must now obtain written permission from the supervisory council, which for the first time will be appointed by the President.

There have been claims that the revision of a number of laws, including the KPK Law, was "bartered" with other laws proposed by the government. Indonesia has entered a new era, known in Javanese as doltinuku (democracy of buying and selling). If the trend continues, the people will be marginalized. But corrupt people are happy. The elite will enjoy luxury. A divide has been created between the people and the elite. Politics has moved far away from the so-called art of searching for possibilities. The power of argument has been replaced by intimidation.

The politics of buying and selling has made a political principle of being now or never. That is the impression we get from the passing of the revised MD3 Law the KPK Law. Where then is the deliberation? This nation needs a middle power that can maintain the republic\'s morality and common sense. Hopefully the Constitutional Court (MK) will play that part.