“I want to apologize for not having done much in the past five years,” legislator Rieke Diah Pitaloka told a crowd of young people during a youth event in South Jakarta last December.
“As long as there are laborers being treated unfairly, I haven’t succeeded in my job as a politician,” she continued.
“As long as there are Indonesian migrant workers being sentenced to death in other countries, we haven’t succeeded. As long as there are poor people being refused treatment in hospitals, we haven’t succeeded.”
Her apology came just as Indonesia prepares for a legislative election in April. Rieke, a politician from the House of Representatives’ Commission IX, which oversees manpower, transmigration and health issues, is up for re-election this year from West Java VII constituency, which covers Bekasi, Karawang and Purwakarta.
Critics have lambasted the current batch of legislators, who took office in 2009, for the slow pace of legislation passing through the House during their term.
In 2013, the House Legislative Body set a target of passing 75 bills. By the end of the year, it had managed just seven, according to JurnalParlemen.com.
Female legislators in particular, analysts said, did not live up to expectations, as proven by their failure to pass bills of significance to women’s interests, including the Gender Equality Bill.
Several factors have been blamed for their low productivity on this front, including their political inexperience and unproven track records.
Corruption, once the exclusive domain of the male members of the House, is also a problem. A growing number of high-profile women in politics have been implicated in major graft cases, including Angelina Sondakh from the Democratic Party, Wa Ode Nurhayati from the National Mandate Party (PAN) and Chairun Nisa from the Golkar Party.
Both Angelina and Wa Ode are in jail after having been convicted in separate corruption cases, while Chairun is currently standing trial.
The political party recruitment system has been cited as the main factor in the poor qualifications and low competency exhibited by those voted into the House. Parties have long been accused of picking popular figures, including actresses and singers, to garner as many votes as possible, regardless of the candidate’s abilities or whether they are even from the constituency for which they are nominated.
All about bras
Indri Yuli Hartati was born and lives in Jakarta, but is running for the Central Java X constituency that covers Batang, Pekalongan and Pemalang districts.
The 35-year-old candidate from the Indonesian Justice and Unity Party (PKPI) caused a stir last December by handing out free bras for women in the constituency.
The stunt generated a media buzz, but Indri claimed it wasn’t a publicity stunt, even though she continues to do it.
“Giving out bras is not something that I want to be known for,” she told the Jakarta Globe. “The women told me that they feel like they deserve the attention. Their husbands never pay attention to their underwear.”
She said it was also about empowering small and medium enterprises, with local producers commissioned to produce the bras. “It was unintentional. I wanted to empower my constituents by allowing them to sew and produce bras. It’ll help their own economy eventually,” she said.
Indri also claimed to have sold 10 of her houses to raise Rp 3 billion ($264,000) for her campaign, and promised if elected to give half her pay as a legislator to her constituents. “I’m rich. I don’t need a salary to live on,” she said at a discussion last September, as quoted by Radarpena.com.
‘I know nothing of politics’
Destiara Talita is another PKPI candidate who has raised more than a few eyebrows.
The 25-year-old, best known for her racy poses in adult men’s magazines, told the Globe that she had never thought of running until her friend asked her to.
“I didn’t even know what kind of party the PKPI is,” she said with a laugh.
“My friend introduced me to the people from the party, and they are quite friendly, so that’s it.”
Destiara, who is still in university, said she wanted to expand her network and experience. “Actually I want to add experience. I am in the modeling industry, but I don’t want to be the model who only depends on a sexy body,” she said.
“I know nothing of politics. This will be a learning period for me. I don’t actually have high hopes of becoming a legislator,” she added.
Destiara said that if elected, she would fight for the rights of Indonesian migrant workers, many of whom come from Indamayu — part of the West Java VIII constituency, which also includes Cirebon, in which Destiara, from Bekasi, is running.
She said she often felt like crying whenever she was made fun of.
“There were complaints made to the KPU [General Elections Commission]. They said, how can a sexy model be a legislative candidate?” she said. “So I wrote an open letter saying that I am serious in becoming a legislator and will leave my modeling career if elected.”
Not a gender issue
Titi Anggraeni, executive director of the Association for Elections and Democracy (Perludem), said the cause for the poor-quality candidates being fielded, whether male or female, was the parties’ recruitment mechanism.
“Both men and women face the same problems in politics,” she said.
“Competency, qualifications and political motivation are problems that are not restricted by gender.”
Political parties are free to recruit any potential members they see fit to bring in the most votes. Tit says that in exchange for the nomination, the parties oblige the candidates to kick back money for campaign funding.
“Is that illegal or legal? There is no regulation. It’s a gray area,” Titi said.
If the system worked properly, parties would be training grounds where young politicians could grow and enhance their skills, she said. But for parties and legislative hopefuls, the expedient solution is the system of instant recruitment.
“Political parties have failed in their membership training programs. If these parties are committed to developing the skills of their members, this would not be a problem in every election,” Titi said.
Female participation in politics was low during Suharto’s authoritarian New Order era, but has risen steadily since. The KPU has since 2004 enforced a 30 percent quota for legislative candidates.
In 1999, only 9 percent of House legislators were women. Today there are 101 female legislators, or 18 percent of the 560-member House.
This year’s House election will feature 2,465 women on the ballots, out of a total of 6,607 candidates, or about 38 percent, according to Perludem data. But much remains to be done, Titi said.
“We have made political parties committed to having 30 percent of women in their legislative candidate lists, but the work is not done,” she said.
“They still need to build these women’s capacity and competency.”
Prior to the election, parties and nongovernmental organizations have teamed up to hold training workshops for first-time female candidates.
“In the workshops, the candidates are taught about capacity building, campaign strategy, constituent outreach and fund raising,” Titi said.
Background not a factor
Titi contends that a candidate’s background or profession shouldn’t matter, long as they have a clear vision and goals to fight for the rights of their constituents.
She cites the likes of Rieke from the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), Nurul Arifin from the Golkar Paty and Nova Riyanti Yusuf from the Democratic Party as examples of legislators from the entertainment industry who had performed admirably at the House.
She said they had been vocal in defending women’s rights, access to health care, welfare for female workers, working mothers’ rights, and child protection.
“A legislator’s performance doesn’t depend on her profession or education. It depends on how they are able to represent their constituents,” Titi said.
Rieke, a former TV sitcom star and student activist during New Order era, said it was a positive development that people from all walks of life could enter politics, but cautioned against voting for candidates who relied only on their popularity.
“Politics doesn’t discriminate,” she said. “Everyone has the right to choose and be chosen. But it’s unfair if you only rely on popularity to enter politics.”
