It Is Very Important To Maintain Morality And Ethics In Political Practices

The deactivation of a number of members of the DPR by the party is said to be solely to reduce public anger for a moment. For this reason, disabled members of the DPR are urged to resign in order to maintain the private muruah and credibility of the party.

In the midst of a strong wave of demonstrations, three political party central leadership councils announced the deactivation of a number of their cadres from members of the House of Representatives starting September 1, 2025.

On Sunday, through a press release, Secretary General of the DPP of the Democratic National Party Hemawi Taslim announced that Ahmad Sahroni and Nafa Urbach were disabled as members of the DPR.

Meanwhile, Deputy Chairperson of PAN Viva Yoga Mauladi also announced the removal of Eko Patrio and Uya Kuya from the DPR.

The Golkar Party DPP also implemented the same policy. Adies Kadir, who served as the Second Deputy of the DPR for the 2024-2029 period, was deactivated by the party led by Bahlil Lahadalia.

The decision to deactivate a number of council members by the party as long as it originated from public criticism of them. Ahmad Sahroni was blasphemed because his statement when responding to the discourse on the dissolution of the DPR was deemed inappropriate.

The man nicknamed CRazy Rich Tanjung Priok labeled the party who echoed the discourse as a ' stupid person'. Meanwhile, two PAN politicians, Eko Patrio and Uya Kuya, also did not escape public criticism after dancing at the end of the annual session of the MPR/DPR.

When responding to criticism, Eko even uploaded a parody video showing himself dancing horeg music. The video is considered to be making fun of the public and challenging the public. Meanwhile, Uya assessed that dancing during the MPR annual session was a natural thing because she was also an artist.

However, the deactivation of DPR members remains a public concern. According to the narrative circulating in the community, the inactive status is not the same as being dismissed. And, the public objected because the deactivation did not immediately erase his rights in getting a salary.

Citing various sources, firing DPR members cannot be done instantly and unilaterally. There is a mechanism that regulates how DPR members can be expelled from the DPR, and that mechanism takes time.

This is regulated in Law Number 17 of 2014 or often referred to as the MPR Law, DPR, DPD, DPRD (UU MD3).

Replacement of DPR members can be carried out through three mechanisms, namely Inter-Time Replacement (PAW) if a member of the DPR resigns or dies, violates the code of ethics and has been decided by the Honorary Court of the Council (MKD), as well as binding court decisions.

The mechanism for dismissing members of the DPR cannot be instant because it is influenced by direct election factors by the people. Members of the DPR are basically chosen by the people, not entirely dependent on the party, so there is a price of people's votes there.

This legal mechanism is made so that there will be no arbitrary and unilateral dismissal by the party, so that the rights of the people who choose are still respected.

So, when there is news that the party has removed or disabled members of the DPR, it is only internal, while their membership status in the DPR is still waiting for the formal process according to the law.

Provisions regarding the deactivation or temporary dismissal of DPR members are contained in Article 19 of DPR Regulation Number 1 of 2020 concerning Order. Article 19 paragraph 4 states that inactive DPR members still get salary rights as usual.

"Members who are temporarily dismissed will still get financial rights in accordance with the provisions of the legislation," reads Article 19 paragraph 4 of DPR Regulation No. 1/2020.

Political observer Ray Rangkuti assesses that the steps taken by parties, including Nasdem, to deactivate their cadres are the right decision to reduce public turmoil. However, he stressed that the policy was not necessarily enough to stop the wave of public protests.

"In order to maintain the escalation of mass action, this step is appropriate. Of course, the deactivation step is far from sufficient to reduce public protests. Lowering the action has not necessarily lowered the protests," he said.

Even so, Ray Rangkuti emphasized the importance of more substantial steps than just changing levels. The root of the problem of what is happening now, he said, is a political culture that is still trapped in minimalist democracy, aka only understood as a formal rule.

"Therefore, other subtantiated steps are needed. And it not only concerns Sahroni or Nafa Urbach but the entire political elite. That is to change political culture from just a minimalist democracy towards ethical democracy," explained Ray.

He continued, morality and ethics are very important in political practice. The form of behavior that is far from the people, such as dancing in the midst of people's suffering or showing off wealth, according to him, is a source of public anger.

"People are angry at the celebrated gaps," he said.

The deactivation of several party cadres as members of the DPR is politically considered legal, but Ray added that the move could still be questioned legally. He highlighted the administrative gap in Nasdem's decision.

Basically, PAW members of the DPR must comply with the provisions in Law No. 7/2017. In regulations, the dismissal of members of the DPR by the party is possible, but it must be linked to certain factors such as criminal acts, violations of the code of ethics, or party membership status.

"This is where Sahroni and Nafa's stopping holes gap," explained Ray.

On the other hand, University of Indonesia Professor of Constitutional Law Titi Anggraini emphasized that in the MD3 Law there is no non-active term. He emphasized that deactivation is an internal policy, not a legal mechanism that has a direct impact on the status of parliamentary membership.

"The MD3 law does not recognize the term inactive. There is only an interim replacement mechanism (PAW)," said Titi.

The PAW process, said Titi, is regulated in Article 239 of Law Number 17 of 2014 in conjunction with Law Number 13 of 2019. The mechanism starts from the party's official proposal to the leadership of the DPR, then it is forwarded to the president. The President then issued a Presidential Decree to dismiss the member of the DPR concerned and at the same time determine his successor, namely the legislative candidate with the next most votes in the same electoral district in the last election.

During the process, Titi emphasized that members of the DPR who were declared inactive by the party remained valid as members of the council with all their rights and obligations. This means that the party's inactive status towards Sahroni, Uya Kuya, Eko Patrio, Nafa Urbach, and Adies Kadir did not have any impact. He also said that the inactive determination did not invalidate the membership status of the council, including salary and facilities derived from public money.

"The inactive decision has no impact on the status concerned as members of the council. They are still entitled to receive salaries and facilities," he said.

Therefore, Titi assessed that the drama of deactivating a number of members of the DPR recently was carried out by the party only to reduce public anger for a moment. He warned political parties not to play terms that were not regulated in the legislation.

"Use a language that is firm and in accordance with formal provisions. Don't be ambiguous," said Titi.

Finally, Titi suggested to disabled DPR members to voluntarily choose to resign. According to him, this attitude can show personal muruah as well as party credibility.