Deputy speaker: introspection needed due to low public trust to DPR

Jakarta, InfoPublik - The House of Representatives (DPR) deputy speaker Fadli Zon said that the low public trust to parliament occured not only in Indonesia but also in many other countries.

However, he guaranteed it would become a material for the introspection process of the House. The result of national survey conducted by Poltracking Indonesia ranked DPR at the bottom place of the community satisfaction level. Only 34 percent of the public were satisfied with the performance. "People expect more [DPR’s] roles. And public criticism toward the legislative is higher than to the executive body. It is a common thing.  It happens almost in every country," Mr. Fadli said at the House’s Building, Jakarta, Monday (27/11).

He pointed out that the level of public acceptance of the United States Congress was only 11 percent. On the other hand, the election rate of the congressmen reached 96 percent. "So, the approval right is unrelated to electability. That is an example. It is pretty high compared to other countries’ parliaments," he said.

Currently, the Indonesia’s public confidence rate to the House was 34 percent. He claimed that it was reasonable since it was rare that a country’s level of public confidence to parliament was above 50 percent. "The public is critical toward the parliament because they monitor what their representatives do. Their expectations are high," Fadli said.

He added that major cases involving members of parliament occurred in the past instead of in the current period. However, he acknowledged that those cases were processed in this period. "It needs to be considered as a progress that no big case occurs in this period," he concluded. (Translator: Erik Limantara)