3 Special Rights Of The DPR And Examples, The Power To Carry Out Supervision

3 DPR privileges (Photo by Dino Januarsa on Unsplash)

YOGYAKARTA - The House of Representatives (DPR) is a legislative institution that has an important role in the state government. The DPR is tasked with discussing and passing draft laws and regulations, supervising the implementation of laws, and preparing government budgets.

The DPR is a high state institution that acts as a representative of the people to be involved and supervise government policies. These councils consist of members of political parties who are elected through the general election process (Pemilu). Members of the council carry out their duties for a term of office of 5 years.

After holding the 2024 General Election for the legislative elections, the Indonesian people have been waiting for anyone who is elected to become a member of the DPR. These members of the council will later have the privilege of being the basis for supervising and conveying the aspirations of the people. There are 3 DPR privileges that are important to understand further.

The DPR has 3 privileges consisting of the right of interpellation, the right of inquiry, and the right to express opinions. These three rights are given to members of the DPR as a democratic system and to carry out their duties and functions in terms of government oversight.

The DPR's privilege has been regulated in Article 79 paragraph (1) of Law 17/2014, the following is the explanation:

The right of interpellation is the authority of the DPR to ask for an explanation from the government regarding the policies implemented. Members of the DPR have the right to analyze and ask more deeply whether these policies have important and strategic impacts and extend to all aspects of people's lives, nation and state.

The right of interpellation is given to the DPR in order for council members to understand the negative implications of government policies towards the community. The right of interpellation also functions as a means of monitoring the budget and programs run by the government to ensure that it remains within applicable legal limits.

Examples of the use of the right of interpellation:

The DPR uses its right of inquiry to investigate the issuance of Government Regulation in Lieu of Law Number 1 of 2020 concerning Handling Covid-19. The Perppu is considered to contain problems, namely prone to fraud and corrupt actions. Members of the DPR use their interpellation rights to re-question the contents of the Perppu whether it is still within limits and can be accepted widely.

The right of inquiry is a privilege that allows the DPR to investigate policies or implementation of state government. The DPR can carry out investigations into laws or programs that are considered important, strategic, and have a broad impact on the lives of society, nation and state.

Members of the DPR have the right to use the right of inquiry if they find allegations of policies or programs that violate the applicable laws and regulations. The right of inquiry is an important tool for the DPR to oversee various actions of state officials, including the president, vice president, minister, commander of the TNI, National Police Chief, attorney general, and leaders of non-ministerial government institutions.

Examples of the use of the right of inquiry:

The DPR used the right of inquiry to investigate the Century Bank program in 2009. The disbursement of aid funds for Century Bank worth 6.7 trillion rupiah gave rise to many pros and cons. Idrus Marham as chairman of the Special Committee stated that there were indications that the government had made a mistake in handling the Century Bank crisis. The DPR then asked BPK to conduct an investigative audit.

The right to express opinion is the right of flexibility for the DPR to express opinions on various matters, such as government policies and programs, extraordinary events at home and at the international level, follow-up to investigations into the rights of interpellation and the right to inquiry, as well as alleged violations of the law committed by state officials.

Examples of the use of the right to express opinions:

The DPR uses the right to express its opinion in responding to the case of non-budget funds from the Department of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries (DKP) in the 2004 Presidential Election. The proposal states that the opinion aims to resolve the 2004 presidential and vice-presidential aid fund case. If the statement of opinion is approved in a plenary meeting, then a special committee can be formed to carry out an investigation.

Those are the reviews of 3 DPR privileges that are important to understand. The existence of this privilege is an instrument for the DPR to carry out optimal and objective supervision. Also read Anies supports the right of inquiry in the DPR together with the Ganjar coalition.

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