JAKARTA, KOMPAS – Ensuring the future of the Regional Representatives Council (DPD) as a state institution should be the top priority of its members. Consequently, its two leadership factions, namely the one comprising Oesman Sapta, Nono Sampono and Darmayanti Lubis and another comprising GKR Hemas and Farouk Muhammad, should let go of their respective egos and start communicating with each other.
This is necessary as the presence of the two factions at the DPD may potentially undermine its importance. This was evident in the preparations for the first plenary meeting of the new DPD session and the reading of the results of a Supreme Audit Agency (BPK) inspection, both of which took place on Monday (10/4).
Due to the presence of two leadership factions, separate DPD deliberation committee meetings were held by each faction to prepare for the plenary session.
Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI) researcher Syamsuddin Haris said that both factions should prioritize the restoration of DPD as a state institution. “Formal means will lead to a deadlock as each faction claims to be the legal DPD leaders. Now, what must be prioritized is to have both factions sit down together and talk about finding a middle way,” he said. If the deadlock continues, a third party will be needed to solve the problem.
Former Constitutional Court chief justice Jimly Asshiddiqie said that he hoped President Joko Widodo could help solve the split at the DPD. “In any case, he is the head of state and the leader of us all. He can take the initiative to help resolve the conflict,” he said.
Deliberation committee meeting
The DPD secretariat general had planned to schedule a deliberation committee meeting on Monday morning at the DPD speaker’s meeting room in the Nusantara III building in the legislative complex in Jakarta. However, when a number of DPD members on GKR Hemas and Farouk Muhammad’s side wanted to enter the room to hold the meeting, they found that the doors were locked.
Afterwards, they went to the Samithi Room in the Nusantara V building. In the room, Hemas and Farouk were waiting for them. Eventually, 17 DPD members and committee heads attended the meeting.
Meanwhile, in the Nusantara III building, DPD committee heads on Oesman, Nono and Darmayanti’s side also held a DPD deliberation committee meeting. The signed attendance list showed that 22 of the 37 DPD committee heads were there.
The results of the two meetings were different. The meeting by Hemas’ faction agreed to request Supreme Court chief justice Hatta Ali revoke the inauguration of the new DPD speakers. In the meeting, it was also agreed that the BPK should not have to attend any DPD plenary session until legal and political problems in the institution were resolved.
Meanwhile, the meeting by Oesman’s faction agreed to hold a plenary session this Tuesday and invite the BPK to report its findings. The plenary session is also to be held to officially open the new DPD session and to officially revoke former DPD speaker Irman Gusman\'s DPD membership because of his involvement in a corruption case.
Anna Latuconsina, a DPD member in Hemas’ faction, said that the faction would not attend any plenary session presided over by Oesman. Meanwhile, Oesman said that Hemas’ actions are motivated by personal instead of factional interests.
(AGE/MHD)