Lawmakers attend a House of Representatives plenary session on Sept 19, 2024, at the Senayan legislative complex in Jakarta. - Photo: Antara
JAKARTA: Growing political dynasties and a lack of opposition voices among elected lawmakers has raised concerns that there will be dysfunctional legislative oversight of the administration of president-elect Prabowo Subianto in the next five years.
Next Tuesday (Oct 1), 580 newly elected members of the House of Representatives will be sworn into office, with familiar faces and senior politicians reclaiming more than half of the legislative seats, according to a review on the elected lawmakers’ list by Indonesian Parliament Watch (Formappi).
The group looked at each politician’s profile based on data gathered by the General Elections Commission (KPU) since they registered their candidacy for the February election.
But some profiles were incomplete, keeping the researchers from further analysing the data.
The review, the results of which were published on Tuesday, found that 79 lawmakers are part of political dynasties, with kinship relations with incumbent politicians and public officials.
Among them are spouses, such as Gerindra Party secretary-general Ahmad Muzani and his wife Himmatul Aliyah, both of whom have been lawmakers for more than five years.
Another couple are musicians Ahmad Dhani and Mulan Jameela, also from Gerindra. While Mulan has been a member of the House since 2019, the 2024 period will be the first term for Ahmad as a lawmaker.
Diah Pikatan Orissa Putri Haprani, the daughter of Current House Speaker Puan Maharani of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) who is also a member of the same party, will sit in the House starting next week.
Another PDI-P pair can be seen in Said Abdullah and his son Kaisar Kiasa Kasih Said Putra.
With the rising number of political families joining the House, Formappi senior researcher Lucius Karius raised concerns over potential conflicts of interest that may further hamper the legislative body from doing its job.
“This opens doors for more corruption and collusion,” he said, adding that lawmakers from the same political family may pile up on the same commission and formulate regulations that would benefit their interests.
Their election, which Lucius argued was thanks to the support of people with power and influence, may deprive other promising figures from a voice in the House.
Poor performing incumbents
Formappi’s study also showed that more than half of the elected lawmakers are incumbents.
The high number might be good for the legislative body in normal conditions, but the incumbent House members, who are set to end their five-year tenures next Monday, have been slammed for being unproductive and exercising a brazen overreach that undermines other state institutions.
At the same time, some legislations were processed in speedy and opaque deliberations that critics said undermined meaningful public participation and prioritised the political interests of the elite.
The next House period may not function properly, Lucius said, if the newcomers, who are mostly celebrities and other public figures, might be “opportunistic and pragmatic”, making them prone to make decisions that represent the oligarchs’ interests.
“The combination of incumbents with poor records and newcomers who are not creative and proactive may result in stagnancy in the House’s future performance,” the researcher said.
Formappi’s findings were in line with another study conducted by the Jakarta-based Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) published in April.
The study found a rising number of incumbents reclaiming their House seats, highlighting the uneven playing field faced by newcomers in elections when competing with candidates with ties to influential families.
“There needs to be political will among the elites to encourage more representation of the youth, women and ordinary people being nominated and elected in general elections,” CSIS researcher Arya Fernandes wrote in the report.
“The electoral system needs to ensure balance and equality among different groups in society,” he added, “so that the House members-elect reflect the population’s characteristics.”
No opposition?
With the grim projection, Formappi felt pessimistic that the next House could improve its work, especially with the lack of opposition voices that may hinder its ability to maintain checks and balances regarding the executive branch, opening doors for “compromises and collusion”, as noted by Lucius.
Since winning the February election, Prabowo has been racing to consolidate power ahead of his presidency.
He was able to pull parties backing his election rivals into his coalition by August, potentially securing a legislature majority.
Only the PDI-P has yet to decide whether it will support or oppose Prabowo’s administration.
The nationalist party is poised to retain the House speakership after winning the most seats, 110 lawmakers, in February.
“If all parties in the legislature ended up joining the governing coalition, Prabowo would no longer need two weeks to secure his legislative agendas,” Lucius said.
“A day may be enough time to mobilise legislative support.” - The Jakarta Post/ANN
