76TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE DPR RI, Mrs. Maharani: There Is Nothing Important But The People's Aspirations

Speaker of the House of Representatives Puan Maharani (Photo: Mery/VOI)

JAKARTA - The Indonesian House of Representatives held a plenary meeting to commemorate the 76th Anniversary which fell on August 29 last. The meeting will be chaired directly by the Chairperson of the Indonesian House of Representatives, Puan Maharani, as well as submitting the DPR RI Performance Report for the 2020 to 2021 Sessions.

In the commemoration of the 76th Anniversary with the theme 'DPR RI is Great with the People', the council wants to reaffirm the spirit of gotong royong which is the essence of Pancasila values and the nation's culture. The commemoration also invited a number of leaders of state institutions and previous heads of the DPR.

The chairman of the DPR, Puan Maharani, emphasized the DPR's commitment to continue to improve itself at the commemoration of the 76th anniversary of the DPR RI. He ensured that the people's representative institution he leads will not stop making various improvements to improve the work of legislation, supervision and budgeting, as mandated by the constitution.

“There is nothing more important to the DPR than the aspirations of the people. On its 76th anniversary, the DPR will continue to improve itself and continue to learn to listen, understand and channel the aspirations of the people," said Puan, Tuesday, August 31.

The former Coordinating Minister for Human Development and Culture is aware that there are still various shortcomings from the DPR in its function as a channel for people's aspirations. Therefore, Puan said that all inputs and criticisms from the public would be a trigger for the DPR to work better.

Puan also reminded all representatives of the people to dedicate themselves to the benefit of the community, especially in the current era of the COVID-19 pandemic. The chairman of the PDIP DPP also emphasized that it takes tireless work by members of the DPR to lighten the burden on the people in these difficult times.

"We will monitor every government policy related to the handling of the COVID-19 pandemic so that it is solely aimed at saving the people from this health disaster, nothing else," said Puan.

A glimpse of history, the role of parliament in Indonesia has been started since the colonial rule of the Dutch East Indies. The journey of the Indonesian parliament then continued in the Japanese colonial era which did not work as it should because it did not represent the Indonesian nation.

Until finally Indonesia became independent, the government under the leadership of President Sukarno formed the Central Indonesian National Committee (KNIP) 12 days after the proclamation of independence. KNIP which is the forerunner of the DPR was established on August 29, 1945. The date of the inauguration of the KNIP was later used as the date and day of the birth of the DPR RI.

At the beginning of its formation, KNIP consisted of 137 people, led by Kasman Singodimedjo as chairman. Sitting as deputy chairman of KNIP at that time were Sutardjo Kartohadikusumo, J Latuharhary, and Adam Malik.

Currently, the DPR RI for the 2019-2024 period has 5 leaders: DPR Chair Puan Maharani, and 4 Deputy Chairs namely Azis Syamsuddin, Sufmi Dasco Ahmad, Rachmat Gobel and Muhaimin Iskandar.