SP/Robertus Wardi – A parliamentary watchdog has called on the House of Representatives' Ethics Council to take action against lawmakers who frequently skip meetings and plenary sessions.
Lucius Karus, a senior researcher with Concerned Citizens for the Indonesian Legislature (Formappi), commented that most meeting rooms at the House were empty because many lawmakers opt to campaign rather than attend meetings and discussions to produce laws.
"Skipping meetings is a serious violation which can lead to dismissal," Lucius said Saturday.
Lucius said that the ethics council should not disregard such truancy, since participation in meetings is an indicator of a lawmaker's commitment to fight for their constituents' rights.
He cited the House's regulation which states that any lawmaker who skips six consecutive meetings without a legal explanation will be dismissed. Lucius slammed the Ethics Council as a powerless body which only reacts if somebody files a report on a lawmaker's misconduct.
"The Ethics Council should be proactive and monitor lawmakers' attendance records. It should be strict in disciplining lazy legislators," he said. "It's only right to dismiss a lawmaker if they no longer carry out their duties and responsibilities."
During a Tuesday plenary session at the House, which was scheduled to discuss Constitutional Court justices and the central bank's gubernatorial election, 254 lawmakers were absent.
According to Formappi, up to 90 percent of the House's 560 members displayed an unacceptable level of performance during the past term.
Formappi's figure for the number of unproductive lawmakers is even higher than the one quoted by House Speaker Marzuki Alie in 2011, when he said that "70 percent of the House members are carriers of disasters."
Aside from delivering few results in terms of passing laws, many lawmakers in the past term have also been dumped in jail for corruption, further eroding public trust in the legislative body.
A senior lawyer told the Jakarta Globe that of the total 600 laws passed by the House, at least 100 contain severe legal defects. Since 2004 alone, some 60 laws have been annulled by the Constitutional Court.