Camelia Pasandaran – The head of the Constitutional Court criticized the House of Representatives on Tuesday, labeling the outgoing crop of legislators as being beholden to political interests and having a "bad" understanding of how the law actually worked.
Justice Mahfud MD identified two specific problems about the lawmakers, whose terms expired on Wednesday.
"Their mistake is their bad understanding of the substance of the law," he said. "With this lack of understanding, they keep on drafting bills that are contradictory to other laws."
"The second mistake is political affairs," Mahfud said. "They know it is wrong, but they pass the bills by design. People then lodge judicial reviews with the court and we annul it."
He said composing bills and enacting legislation required technical expertise and that the "legal experts in the House are not good enough."
Irman Putra Sidin, a constitutional expert, also said the problem with the House legislative output was related to political interests.
"There is too much political involvement during the process of drafting bills," Irman said. "The political parties in the House have been implementing a centralized political system."
More often, agreements on a bill are based on votes of House factions and not individual members. "Individual members should be free to give their own opinion," Irman said.
Analysts also agreed that legislation enacted by the House during the 2004-9 period only reflected the interests of the sitting lawmakers.
Lili Romli, a political analyst from the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI), said the poor performance of the House was reflected by the number of laws rejected by the Constitutional Court – nearly 30 percent.
"[The legislators] have make the Constitutional Court a trash bin for bad laws," Lili told the Jakarta Globe on Tuesday. "This demonstrates the House's failure to carry out their duties."
Sebastian Salang, head of the Forum of Citizens Concerned About the Indonesian Legislature, said the problem with the laws was caused by House members who have vested political interests and take too long to deliberate on an issue.
"Several of the laws are not logical," Sebastian said. "They have carelessly produced laws that are contradictory to one to another."