[Kabar-indonesia] 2 of 2: Tempo Cover Story: Opinion: Cleaning House [+DPR Houses for Rent]

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2 Tempo Magazine Cover Story Reports (2 of 2): 

-  Opinion: Cleaning House

- DPR Houses for Rent [Some DPR members 
  have been censured for leasing out their officially 
  assigned homes.]

Tempo Magazine
No. 47/VI
July 25 - 31, 2006 

Opinion 

Cleaning House 

THE House of Representatives (DPR) must do more than impose disciplinary 
measures on 18 members who violated the ethics code to restore its image. The 
punishment imposed by the DPR Honor Board on those representatives is an important 
and admirable step. This first step in purging the legislature of unethical 
and undisciplined elements should be supported, although it is far from 
satisfactory, given the many instances of disgraceful behavior by DPR members. 

If the DPR wants to be more serious in initiating corrective measures, 
including punishing those who have committed not just ethical violations but 
possibly criminal actions, its Honor Board must have the courage to press charges 
against them. 

It is an open secret that in Senayan, home of the DPR, there are 
representatives who fail to carry out their legislative duties to the full. Cases recorded 
by the Honor Board show instances of "shameful extra activities." Some 
members consistently miss meetings, accept envelopes (containing bribes) from their 
colleagues, act as brokers of specific services, practice extortion or rent 
out their official homes. The Honor Board has imposed a range of punishments, 
the heaviest being the recent expulsion of Aziddin, a member of the Democrat 
Party. 

What changed here are the powers of the DPR Honor Board. At the start of the 
reform era, it had the power to suspend members, but now the DPR regulations 
concerning the conduct of its members are set out in Law No. 22/2003, which 
gives the Board the authority to dismiss members. Aziddin is the first directly 
elected legislator to be dismissed by the Honor Board. 

But Aziddin is not the first representative at this session to be expelled 
from Senayan. Djoko Edhi Sucipto, who was judged to have committed an infraction 
by going on an unauthorized study tour to Egypt at the end of 2005, also had 
to pack his bags after the National Mandate Party (PAN) recalled him. The 
party's decision later secured the agreement of the DPR. 

So, the DPR now has two methods of expelling its members from Senayan: the 
"Aziddin method" and the "Djoko Edhi method." The difference is clear: in the 
Aziddin case, the initiative to dismiss him came from the Honor Board, whereas 
in the Djoko Edhi case, it originated from his own party. In the "Aziddin 
method," the power of the Honor Board in determining the guilt or innocence of a 
DPR member can be said to be absolute. 

But this authority is enshrined in Law No. 22/2003, which sets out the code 
of conduct for the DPR members. The Honor Board can expel a legislator if he or 
she breaks the law or violates the codes of ethics or conduct. 

This extensive authority of the Honor Board has many possible consequences. 
The Honor Board members, who come from the different parties, are not tasked 
with representing the interests of their respective parties. Nevertheless, there 
must be a better mechanism to prevent political bias in the Honor Board's 
decision-making process. A person's guilt or innocence should be executed by a 
court, which means that the DPR members' code of conduct may need to be revised. 
For serious ethical or behavioral infractions, and especially criminal acts, 
the Honor Board would do better to recommend that formal legal charges be 
imposed on suspected members. 

In the Djoko Edhi case, the dismissal was neither discussed nor decided by 
the DPR Honor Board. It was his own political party that recalled him. This 
means the decision was not tested by the Honor Board. Without wishing to defend 
the legislators who took part in the wasteful and unnecessary study tour to 
Egypt, we hope the "Djoko Edhi method" will not be used again in the future. 

The expulsion of people's representatives must be conducted through a 
mechanism that is appropriate to their type and extent of their wrongdoing. It should 
be free of political interests and not be based on a "special weeding out" 
process. 

The impression strongly suggests a "special weeding out" process was held 
following the extortion case involving a regent, and when 'special' envelopes 
were distributed to members of the Special Committee on Aceh Administration, 
which failed to elicit any form of disciplinary action from the Honor Board. The 
extortion was clearly a crime, and certainly the distribution of the envelopes 
was a serious matter, although the amount of money given may have been 
"small," and eventually returned. Many worry that the envelopes issue will wreck the 
DPR's integrity, and render its efforts to help the Acehnese a farce. So far, 
there has been no sign that President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono plans to take 
any action against the ministers who distributed the envelopes. 

If the DPR wants to be regarded as a serious legislature by, among other 
things, preventing large parties from influencing the proceedings, it should 
consider the suggestion of including outside experts to be part of the Honor Board. 
The inclusion of these genuinely neutral people would give the decisions of 
the Honor Board considerably more legitimacy. As such, dubious practices could 
be significantly reduced. 

With this in practice, the people sitting in the DPR would be accountable 
legislators who would be judged by their actions, and who would be fully 
committed to fighting for the interest and benefit of the populace. Only such quality 
representatives would be worthy of receiving the people's political mandate. 
Not gold diggers and middlemen. 
 
--------------------------------------------

Tempo Magazine
No. 47/VI
July 25 - 31, 2006 

Cover Story 

DPR Houses for Rent 

Some DPR members have been censured for 
leasing out their officially assigned homes. 

"Why did you lease out the house?" 
"To improve my welfare. That's my right." 
"But the house is occupied by your brother?" 
"Yes, I will return the money."

THESE words were quoted by a Tempo source from a grilling session between 
Mudaffar Syah, a member of the House of Representatives (DPR) and DPR Honor Board 
on May 23. The closed-door session was led by deputy head Gayus T. Lumbuun. 

Mudaffar, of the Democratic Pioneer Star faction, was charged with leasing 
out his DPR-assigned house at Kalibata in South Jakarta. He was reported to the 
Honor Board by Mediati Hafni Hanum, a member of the Regional Representatives 
Council (DPD) from Aceh who rented the house. 

The case of Mudaffar is one of seven which the Honor Board determined at a 
meeting at Wisma Kopo, Cipayung, West Java, violated the code of ethics. 
Mudaffar was served a reminder and ordered to return the rental payment to Mediati. 

Mudaffar is a member of the United Democratic Nationhood Party (PPDK). Since 
it has only three seats in the DPR, the party formed a coalition called the 
Democratic Pioneer Star faction together with the Crescent Star Party, 
Indonesian Democratic Upholders' Party, and Pioneer Party. 

Mudaffar's wife, Boki Ratu Nita Budhi Susanti, is a DPD member from North 
Maluku. Last year Susanti ran for Mayor of Ternate in North Maluku on a PPDK 
ticket but lost. Susanti refused to accept the election results. She charged her 
rival with money politics, vote rigging and intimidation and demanded a 
re-election. The local election committee rejected her demand. 

In August, a month after the election, Susanti met Mediati, a fellow DPD 
member, for help. "She wanted to borrow money to pay lawyers handling her case 
with the election committee in North Maluku," said Mediati in a letter of 
complaint to the Honor Board. 

Mediati told Susanti she had no money to lend her. All she had, she said, was 
enough to pay for the rental of the Permata Apartment where she was then 
staying. When Mediati said she was leaving the apartment to rent a house in 
another location, Susanti cut in: "Why not just rent our house at Kalibata." 

An agreement was reached. Mediati would rent the house at Blok E6/412 of the 
DPR Housing Complex for a two-year period for Rp40 million. The agreement was 
signed by Mediati and Mudaffar on August 19, 2005. Although she had paid the 
rent, Mediati had yet to see the house. When Mediati hesitated, Susanti said, 
"Come on, don't you believe me, a fellow DPD member." 

In March, just before the rental period of her apartment expired the 
following month, Mediati went to see the house at Kalibata. To her surprise, she found 
the house was located within a DPR housing complex. "I am new in Jakarta, so 
I didn't know it was a house assigned to a DPR member," she said. 

Deeply disappointed, Mediati demanded that Mudaffar return her money. "If you 
cannot return the money, please vacate the house so I can occupy it," she 
said in a letter to Mudaffar on April 5. Mudaffar replied with an SMS on 
Mediati's mobile phone: "Sorry, since you yourself canceled the contract, the house is 
now occupied by a relative of mine." 

The house assigned to Mudaffar is located at the edge of Bloc E6, next to a 
tennis court on one side and a small park overgrown with grass on the other. 
The two-story house, its paint faded from wear, is not occupied by Mudaffar. 
"The house is occupied by his brother-in-law," said a member of the Honor Board. 

The Honor Board didn't take long to come to a decision. The 11-member Board, 
which saw the case as a minor infraction, penalized Mudaffar only with a 
written reminder. "We considered it only a minor case," said the Honor Board 
member. 

He said Mudaffar promised to return the money received from Mediati in 
monthly installments of Rp10 million. The first installment was paid to the Honor 
Board last month. Mediati, who was informed of the payment, refused to accept 
it. "Ibu Mediati will receive it only when all installments have been paid," 
said a Board staffer. 

Mudaffar declined to comment on the penalty imposed on him by the Honor 
Board. "I have explained everything to them," said Mudaffar on Thursday last week. 

It seems Mudaffar is not alone in subletting his official home. Most 
legislators have their own homes and some of them lease them out or have them occupied 
by relatives. 

Gayus, who himself is deputy head of the Honor Board, has his DPR-assigned 
house occupied by Firman Djaya Daeli, a fellow party member. "It's not for 
commercial purpose, I let him occupy it for humanitarian consideration," said 
Gayus. 

But Tempo found that many of the DPR-assigned houses were used for commercial 
purposes. Several houses were found to have been transformed into car rental 
and laundry services. 

DPR Secretary-General Fasial said occupation of the houses was determined by 
the DPR faction allocated the houses. The DPR Secretariat General only named 
the block assigned each faction. Bloc A, for example, was assigned to the 
Golkar faction and Bloc B to the PDI-P faction. 

Jamal said he could do nothing if the houses were occupied not by people the 
houses were assigned to. He said he frequently found problems when the 
"illegal occupants" fell into arrears in payment of the telephone and electricity 
bills. 

DPR members are entitled to electricity and telephone allowance at Rp4.5 
million a month on top of a monthly salary of Rp4.2 million. They also receive 
allowances for spouse, children, rice, honorarium and communication allowances 
totaling about Rp50 million a month. But apparently the amount is still not 
adequate to sustain our legislative members, forcing many of them to seek extra 
income by leasing out the houses assigned to them by the DPR. -- Budi Setyarso 
 
-End 2 of 2-
 
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Joyo Indonesia News Service
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