Markus Junianto Sihaloho – As the House of Representatives continues to work on a new code of ethics for its members, nongovernmental organizations say the current draft lacks tough punishment for indiscretions.
"The House's Ethics Council seems to be satisfied with the new article banning lawmakers from paying prostitutes for sex or visiting casinos," said Abdullah Dahlan, a researcher from Indonesia Corruption Watch, who was speaking during a consultative meeting with the council.
"There must be harsh punishments for those who violate the ethics code," he said.
Abdullah added that a controversial study trip to Greece last year by members of the Ethics Council, where lawmakers supposedly examined the effectiveness of the Greek Parliament's ethics code, appeared to have been useless.
The Greek Parliament punishes its members with fines or salary cuts if they violate its code of ethics or fail to adhere to rules on attendance, he said.
Meanwhile, the Center for Indonesian Law and Policy Studies (PSHK), which was also invited to the meeting, said the draft code was a step backward as it failed to clearly define what constituted a conflict of interest.
Ronald Rofiandri, the director of advocacy at the PSHK, said the Ethics Council needed to put in place a code that banned lawmakers from using their positions for personal or family interests.
"The current ethics code clearly details issues surrounding conflicts of interest, but we can't see these details in the new draft," he said, adding the new code should clearly define issues relating to accepting gratuities.
"We have studied parliamentary procedures in seven different countries," he said. "All seven countries have detailed regulations on gratuities and issues relating to conflicts of interest."
Nudirman Munir, the deputy chairman of the Ethics Council, said some councilors had also proposed tougher punishment for ethics violations.
However, these calls were rejected by other councilors during the drafting process, he said, because many lawmakers were not prepared to face punishments like salary cuts.
"Besides, we have a presidential system, not a parliamentary system like Greece," he added. "So not all articles [from Greece] can be adopted."
With regards to gratuities and conflicts of interest, Nudirman said the Ethics Council had decided to drop details on these offenses because they overlapped with existing laws that governed these issues.
"We already have laws on gratuities, so we dropped them from the code," he said.
Lawmakers from the National Mandate Party (PAN) and the National Awakening Party (PKB) had earlier urged the Ethics Council to restore articles on legislators receiving gratuities and conflicts of interest.