Kennial Caroline Laia, Jakarta – Even though official legislative election results are still pending, pollsters and media have already made their predictions about the coming crop of legislators headed to take up seats in Senayan, there to pass bills into laws governing the people.

While the legislative election has signaled the exit of some well-known lawmakers, the electorate has also delivered up a few new names into the country's political ring. Incumbent chairman of the House of Representatives, Marzuki Alie looks certain not to be returning to his job at Senayan. Marzuki, from the ruling Democratic Party, has been frequently mentioned in connection with the ongoing Hambalang graft case.

Other high-profile Democratic legislators like Sutan Bhatoegana and Ruhut Sitompul are also seen to be struggling to retain their seats in the House.

Meanwhile, among the new faces which may make their way into the House is Anang Hermansyah, a musician who joined the National Mandate Party (PAN), and is reported to be sitting on 37,439 votes, estimated to be enough to win a seat.

Also headed to shelter under the green dome of Senayan is the daughter of former president Soeharto, Siti Hediati Hariyadi, more commonly known as Titiek Soeharto. Titik is estimated to have collected 80,121 votes, almost certainly enough to see the Soeharto clan back in the corridors of power for the upcoming five years.

Set to keep his seat is Desmond Junaidi Mahesa, one of the two dozen pro-democracy activists taken by Prabowo's Kopassus officers in 1997-1998, but who later forgave his kidnapper and joined Prabowo's Great Indonesia Movement Party (Gerindra).

'No quality, no significant change'

With the diverse backgrounds of political figures likely to grace the screen at TV Parlemen this year, from musicians to businesspeople, questions challenging the quality and competence of legislators have been raised.

Political analyst Arbi Sanit said that he feels uninspired by the likely lineup for the next five years, whether returning legislators or the newcomers to Indonesia's political stage. "I am honestly hopeless for the result of this year's election," Arbi said.

"There are always two types among House members; the experienced ones – but they're generally corrupted, and the new ones with zero experience. "From these two, which one do you want to root for? Right, none of them," Arbi added.

"The House of Representatives will be as bad as five years ago. It will be no good, either, even a little, in terms of performance and the quality of the legislators," he said.

Arbi argued that even though there are new political candidates with good chances of entering the House, these "new players" will not bring change due to their limited experience and opportunist desperation to grab the political limelight.

"Having seen or heard a little about them, I feel some of the legislators that are now predicted to win seats in the House do not exhibit any skills as political figures, both from the way they talk and the way they act," he said.

Arbi observed that the new names joining the political fight this year are mostly running on vague "good intentions."

"When they are asked why they want to join politics, they always say that they want to bring change, a positive change to the nation, without further elaborating on these positive changes they keep talking about," he said. "Good intentions cannot be used in politics. What we really need are qualified political figures. Unfortunately, Indonesia lacks that," he said.

"As for the legislators that ran for their second term and have successfully made it, I also have big doubts about them. From their performance during the last five years, they failed to bring about better conditions to the Indonesian people," he said.

"The incumbent lawmakers have only represented themselves or their parties' interests. They did not represent the people. So, no matter how experienced they are in politics, it is useless. On what basis can we can say that they are going to be better in the future? Facts show that they do not improve themselves during sitting in the House," he said.

"Since the reform era, we have been through three periods of House of Representatives, but from what I can see, there is no significant work worth genuine applause," he said.

Arbi said that some of the political candidates who fostered positive outcomes in the legislative election have insufficient political experience to sit in the House. He emphasized that the quality of the legislators will ensure a repeat performance of the last House's poor record.

"Let's consider Anang Hermansyah, the musician. Does he show a convincing ability in politics? How does he speak? Does he speak politics? Or, Titiek Soeharto, where did she learn about politics?

"The same thing goes for other candidates: the opportunists. Most of them are not people who were taught to be political figures, but boom! Suddenly they are on their way to Senayan," Arbi said.

"This is the result of the lousy political party system in Indonesia. With their poor political skills, they are not competent enough to find critical solutions for the nation's complex problems," he said.

"The experienced ones were not productive either. What did they contribute in creating political products? None!" he said. Arbi cited Marzuki Alie, who he argued did not learn much during his years in the MPR and the House.

"One thing that limits the quality of political figures in Indonesia is that they do not want to learn. Everything that people say, that people ask for, falls on deaf ears," he said.

"The political realm is about experience, not dreams. People should be stopped from arbitrarily entering it. Only people with experience and good track records," he said.

Questionable competency

Political observer Andrinof A. Chaniago of University of Indonesia, said that background matters have no influence in determining the quality of a legislator.

"What's important is that a candidate has competencies in three basic tasks: creating policies, managing the budget, and carrying out supervision," he said.

"Those competencies also need no particular political experience. But, if they do have involvement in those three before joining politics, they can contribute a significant role to the House, they can work optimally," Andrinof said.

Aleksius Jemadu, a political analyst from Pelita Harapan University, said that the success of some legislators without political backgrounds does not guarantee the quality of the legislators themselves. "The winning of voters' support cannot be translated into a better quality of legislator," he said.

"However, we have to remember that the legislator who has succeeded in being elected, even though they may have zero or less experience, were those who actively and frequently approached their constituents. Those who make it to Senayan are those who hard to gain votes," he said.

However, Aleksius said, "Once they enter the House, they will face many legislative matters, dealing with the constitution, supervising the performance of the executive... all those issues need to be dealt with through experience," he said. "I have to say that, the quality of the legislators is still in question."

Source: http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/news/indonesia-plagued-lackluster-lawmakers/