Surprise! Poll Says Most People Don’t Like Lawmakers

Jakarta Globe, Armando Siahaan | September 02, 2010

Jakarta. A survey released on Wednesday by a political research institution confirmed what many already believe to be true: that the public sees current lawmakers as having poorly executed their functions and are demanding more than they deserve.

“The current lawmakers are more popular than the previous working period, but the public perceives them as being worse in terms of their performance,” said Yunarto Wijaya, a political analyst from Charta Politika, which conducted the survey.

The survey found that 63.7 percent of the 378 respondents consider the 2004-09 lawmakers as better than the current ones.

More than 55 percent said the current group of lawmakers was more prominent — but not for good reason. More than 50 percent of the respondents also said the House failed to carry out its three main functions.

Only 22.4 percent of the respondents agreed that the House had done a good job on passing bills, reflecting the worrying fact that the House had only passed seven bills out of the ambitious initial target of 70 for the year.

Moreover, only 22.8 percent believed that the House had done a good job on budgeting, while 52.1 percent thought that the lawmakers have failed in supervising the government.

On the controversial new Rp 1.3 trillion ($144.3 million) House building, which may include a recreational room with spa and fitness center, a staggering 80 percent of the respondents said lawmakers did not need it to improve their performance.

About 78 percent did not see the need to increase lawmakers’ salary, while 61.7 agreed that the lawmakers did not need to go abroad for comparative studies.

“Most of the respondents deemed plans or policies on a salary increase, the new building and comparative studying abroad as negative,” Yunarto said.

On the issue of chronic absenteeism, 84 percent agreed that frequently absent lawmakers should be fired.

Based on the survey and a separate media analysis by Charta Politika, the image of the lawmakers in the past several months has been influenced by a number of issues, including the long-running Bank Century scandal, the high rate of absenteeism, the controversial pork-barrel fund and construction of the expensive new building.

Consequently, Yunarto said that the current legislature’s performance was perceived poorly not only because “the lawmakers have failed to achieve an optimal performance, but that their constant appearance in the media frequently ended up in a coverage with a negative tone.”

Priyo Budi Santoso, the House deputy speaker from the Golkar Party, said that the media coverage on the legislature tended to be one-sided, reporting only the negative, controversial issues, but never the positive side.

He said the media had only been harsh on the legislature, but not the executive government.

“I challenge the media to be critical of the legislature, but also the executive government,” Priyo said.

Pius Lustrilanang, a lawmaker from the Great Indonesia Movement Party (Gerindra) and the head of the Household Affairs Committee, said the struggle for the House to fix its image was particularly difficult because it did not have an embedded public relations function.

Representatives have claimed that measures taken to make them attend plenary sessions are "unfair'. (Antara Photo/Widodo S Jusuf)

Related Article:

Planned new House shows legislators’ ‘insensitivity’

Roll Call Unfair, Cry Absentee Legislators

Less than 300 out of 560 legislators attend House plenary session

Indonesian Lawmakers Stall on Financial Disclosure

Legislators show positive reaction over critic on poor attendance

Absentee Legislators Called Out Of  Order