Puan Apologizes, Academics Remind DPR Not To Ignore People's Voices

Speaker of the House of Representatives, Puan Maharani (ANTARA)

JAKARTA - The academic who is also a FISIPOL lecturer at the University of Muhammadiyah, West Sumatra, Hairunnas hopes that Puan's apology will be a turning point for the DPR RI to listen more to the aspirations of the people and restore public trust, in the midst of ongoing demonstrations.

Previously, the Chairman of the Indonesian House of Representatives, Puan Maharani, had apologized to all Indonesian people and promised to improve the performance of her institution.

"The attitude of the Chairman of the Indonesian House of Representatives, Puan Maharani, who apologized, expressed regret, deactivated several members of the House of Representatives, and committed to guarding and supporting transparency in handling the tragic collision case against the online motorcycle taxi driver, Affan Kurniawan, can be noted as a form of positive response from public pressure and massive public-driven evaluation," Hairunnas said in his statement, Tuesday, September 2.

"This action can be seen as a turning point, as well as an acknowledgment that the aspirations of the people who have been voiced through various acts of society deserve to be heard and cannot be ignored," he continued.

According to Hairunnas, the steps taken by Puan Maharani who came directly to the funeral home and apologized publicly for the "imperfectance of the DPR's performance" can be understood as an effort to build empathy and proactive attitudes.

"However, it must be admitted, the DPR only responded when social pressure was so massive and unstoppable. This means that the internal mechanism of correction within the DPR has not been fully effective without any loud noise from the public. This indicates that our political culture is still not used to placing the people as the main subject of policy and evaluation, but is more often positioned as an administrative object, "explained Hairunnas.

"Empathy arose after the tragedy occurred, and guilt was revealed after life could no longer return," he added.

Furthermore, Hairunnas emphasized that the legal process in the Affan Kurniawan case must be guarded transparently and fairly. This is because demonstrations in Jakarta and a number of areas have left deep national wounds.

"Now, it's time for the DPR to prove that the lives that drift are not in vain and the voices of the streets are not just disturbances, but calls for conscience," concluded Hairunnas.

As is known, the Speaker of the Indonesian House of Representatives, Puan Maharani, apologized for the demonstration that occurred in the last few days. Puan said the DPR RI would evaluate itself and improve in terms of performance.

"First, of course, on behalf of the members of the DPR and the leadership of the DPR, once again I apologize if we as representatives of the people have not been able to work perfectly," said Puan Maharani after visiting the funeral home in the Dukuh Atas area, Jakarta, Saturday, August 30.

Puan said that she would evaluate and continue to improve herself, and listen to the aspirations of the people. He also hopes that incidents that hurt public conscience will not happen again.

"We will evaluate, we will improve ourselves, we will hear the aspirations of the people more healthy, better in building the nation," he said.