Coalition Agreement And Opposition Ends Feud In Parliament

Illustration Of Andry Winarko VOI's Work

JAKARTA - The People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) and the House of Representatives (DPR) have completed the formation of board equipment by choosing the composition of the leadership of the DPR and MPR.

The elected DPR RI leadership for the 2024-2029 period was Puan Maharani with four deputy chairmen representing various major political factions in parliament. Among them Adies Kadir from the Golkar Party faction, Sufmi Dasco Ahmad from the Gerindra Party faction, Saan Mustopa from the Nasdem Party faction, and Cucun Ahmad Syamsurijal from the PKB faction. The election of the chairman and deputy chairman of the DPR went smoothly and without obstacles seems to have been agreed between parties in parliament.

As previously reported, an agreement had been obtained between them, that they would not brain the position of the MD3 Law, even though previously before the election of the Chairman of the DPR and the MPR there were those who proposed changes to the MD3 Law. The proposal was conveyed by the previous MPR Chair Bambang Susetya, he stated that he had prepared the formation of the MPR Law which was separate from the MD3 Law, according to him, the formulation had been included in the 2024 National Legislation Program (Prolegnas).

However, an agreement was recently reached, especially the strength of the government coalition party with opposition strength, namely PDIP. They agreed that they would not make changes to the existing MD3 Law, which means that it would not revise the law, which had previously become a hot topic in parliament.

The agreement was the result of a lobby between Puan Maharani and Said Abdullah from the PDIP DPP who communicated intensively with Sufmi Dasco and Ahmad Muzani from Gerindra who seemed to be carrying a special mission from President Prabowo. Indeed, at that time Prabowo tried to attract the PDIP to join the coalition into the government. It seems that this bargaining which was finally formed as the winner of the legislature will be entitled to the chairman of the DPR.

Meanwhile, as chairman of the MPR, the winner of the presidential election will be given to Gerindra. Meanwhile, Golkar as the second winner must give in, who currently occupies the position as chairman of the MPR, will be taken over by Gerindra as the winner of the presidential election. Golkar as a member of the KIM coalition must comply with the agreement. Although initially there were efforts to change the MD3 Law, the effort ran aground in the middle of the road.

The distribution of seats led by the DPR follows a proportional pattern based on the number of seats obtained by each party in the 2024 General Election. Big parties such as PDIP, Golkar, and Gerindra get important positions as a form of compromise and strategy in ensuring the representation of political interests in parliament.

This agreement is also considered to reflect on the importance of lobbying and consolidation between factions to reach an agreement. This leadership structure will affect the dynamics of the DPR in carrying out legislative functions, including discussion of strategic laws and government oversight over the next five years.

So that the election of Ahmad Muzani from the Gerindra Party as Chairman of the MPR Together with 8 deputy chairmen consisting of Bambang Wuryanto alias Bambang Pacul from PDIP, Kahar Muzakir from Golkar, Lestari Moerdijat from NasDem, Rusdi Kirana from PKB, Hidayat Nur Wahid from PKS, Eddy Soeparno from PAN, Edhie Baskoro Yudhoyono from Democrats and Abcandra Akbar Supratman as representatives of DPD. This is the result of the compromise.

This election is the result of Gerindra's political lobbying with various other parties in parliament, including factions in the DPR and the DPD group. The lobbying strategy aims to secure support and ensure political stability, especially ahead of the Prabowo Subianto administration.

The selection of the MPR leadership is regulated through a joint session involving the interim leadership of the MPR together with the leadership of the faction and the DPD group. Gerindra actively coordinated and negotiated at this stage. According to Rachel Maryam from the Gerindra faction, her optimism was that the lobby would produce positive results for her party.

The election of Muzani as Chair of the MPR is an important step for Gerindra to strengthen its position in parliament and support the government's political agenda. The success of this lobbying underscores the importance of inter-party cooperation in ensuring leadership that can effectively support the running of the government.

This was previously mentioned, activist and Political Observer Ray Rangkuti, that PDIP was indeed given a political advantage by position as chairman of the DPR. As part of persuading PDIP to enter the government coalition. This condition was different in 2014 where PDIP as the winning party for the legislative election, the position of chairman of the DPR was actually won by representatives from Golkar. Ray said that PDIP, in this case, could be referred to as a synergistic position. Oposition that still wants to cooperate with the government' he said last week.

Formally, the selection of the leadership of the MPR and the DPR was carried out based on deliberation and consensus which had previously been found common ground. So that during the election it can run smoothly. For the government in power, this compromise is profitable. Especially the effectiveness of legislative work.

There's a loss

However, the general public actually doubts the effectiveness of the parliamentary control function and can cause a potential loss of checks and balances in supervision as expected by the public. If the DPR is dominated by a government coalition party, the supervisory function of the executive policy tends to weaken. On the other hand, if the opposition gets a strategic place, control of the executive will be stronger. However, everything depends on the choice of PDIP will remain opposition or join the government coalition whose decision will be determined from the results of the meeting between Prabowo and Megawati, in the near future.

Stability or political compromise is considered important to face polarization and deadlock in the discussion of strategic policies. Especially after this the legislature will face dynamics in parliament. As we know in the near future the DPR will face the work between the leadership elections of the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK). Where the party will face a tug of war and influence. Political parties have an interest, the election of the KPK leadership can be directed to choose a more "accommodative" figure against the political elite.

Another thing related to the leadership position is the Simultaneous Pilkada. The election of regional heads (Pilkada) is also inseparable from politics in parliament. Parliament has a role in passing regulations related to the Pilkada mechanism. If political lobbying produces agreements that prioritize the interests of certain parties, then election regulations can be changed to benefit the ruling party, for example by returning the Pilkada to the DPRD.

The Job Creation Law is one example of how the government coalition in parliament accelerates the process of ratifying laws with mechanisms that are considered less transparent. So that it leads to the revision and amendment of the previous law, or the formation of other important laws. The parliamentary leadership plays an important role in determining the priority of legislation. If parliamentary leadership favores the government more, laws that are not in line with the government's agenda tend to be ignored.