Anita Rachman & Markus Junianto Sihaloho, Jakarta – Session-skipping lawmakers on Wednesday reacted with anger to the House of Representatives secretariat's move to reveal their poor attendance records.
"The House secretariat released unconfirmed data, which is very harmful because once they get it wrong, any party could sue them for defamation," the Golkar Party's Agus Gumiwang Kartasasmita said, adding that the data on his absences was incorrect.
Earlier this week, the secretariat released information showing that none of the nine parties in the House has ever had all of its lawmakers in attendance at a plenary session.
The House Ethics panel threatened to discipline the truants and the public reaction has been sharply critical.
The data showed that dozens of lawmakers skipped plenary sessions, with 12 of them ducking out of three or more sessions.
Ratu Munawaroh from the National Mandate Party (PAN) missed 10 plenary sessions. Democrat Nurcahyo Anggoro was not present for eight. The data also said Jeffrie Geovani from Golkar skipped six sessions, while his party comrades Agus and Ibnu Muzir missed four each.
"I have permits from the party to skip plenary sessions because I have work to do," Agus said, showing a permission letter issued by the party. He acknowledged there were lazy lawmakers who were truant for no good reason, but insisted he was not one of them.
Other lawmakers said the report was unfair because it measured only attendance at plenary meetings. Akbar Faisal from the People's Conscience Party (Hanura), who missed six sessions, said he had good reasons for his absences.
"I worked on the Bank Century scandal. I had meetings until 2 a.m. sometimes. I was very tired so I couldn't make it to the plenary sessions," he said.
He said the House should have a mechanism other than attendance reports to assess lawmakers. "The most crucial [work] is in the commissions," he said.
House energy chairman Abdul Kadir Karding from the National Awakening Party (PKB), who skipped four plenary sessions, said accusing him of being lazy was unfair because his contribution to the commission was being ignored. "I am a commission chairman, I always lead meetings in my commission," he said.
Democratic Party chairman Anas Urbaningrum said attendance was part of a lawmaker's responsibility, and that his party pushes its members to show up.
"I often tell our members that many cadres with a better spirit stand ready to replace them as lawmakers," Anas said. He called on all parties to be stricter with their members.