Nursery Crimes
PRESIDENT Abdurrahman Wahid did not go too far when during his administration he described the House of Representatives (DPR) as a "kindergarten". The conduct of the 2014-2019 DPR legislators in the past few weeks, including one irate person kicking a table during a plenary session, has been pretty embarrassing, not to mention the creation of a 'shadow DPR leadership'. It is infantile behavior which could be most damaging to the public interest if it is not immediately resolved.
It all began with the enactment of the Legislative Institution Law, known as the MD3 Law, in July. This law made it easier for the parties supporting Prabowo (Gerindra, Golkar, the National Mandate Party, Justice and Prosperity Party and the Democrat Party) to take control of the DPR and People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) leadership positions by proposing a packet system (five members must be supported by five party factions), a cunning strategy that contradicts the principles of democracy, and which in turn had a negative impact on the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) and its supporters.
November 4, 2014
PRESIDENT Abdurrahman Wahid did not go too far when during his administration he described the House of Representatives (DPR) as a "kindergarten". The conduct of the 2014-2019 DPR legislators in the past few weeks, including one irate person kicking a table during a plenary session, has been pretty embarrassing, not to mention the creation of a 'shadow DPR leadership'. It is infantile behavior which could be most damaging to the public interest if it
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