Regarding Rieke Diah Pitaloka's Reporting To MKD, PDIP Says It Will Influence The Critical Attitude Of DPR Members

Illustration. The plenary session of the DPR RI which was held at the Parliament Complex, Senayan, Jakarta, Tuesday, June 4. (Nailin-VOI)

JAKARTA - The chairman of the PDI-P (PDIP) DPP, Deddy Yevry Sitorus, responded that members of the DPR Rieke Diah Pitaloka were reported to the MKD of the DPR RI because they were considered provoking to reject the 12 percent VAT policy.

According to him, what MKD has done will have an impact on the critical power of DPR members and have the potential to make people lose confidence in DPR institutions.

"The DPR is an institution that carries out the function of checking and balances for the management of government power. The supervisory function is carried out and manifested by members of the DPR," said Deddy, Monday, December 30.

"What should be questioned is that DPR members are ignorant, immune to the duties and aspirations of the community," he continued.

According to Deddy, MKD should have examined DPR members who never spoke either in the courtroom or to the public through mainstream media or social media.

"The parliament is as long as it is said to be 'parle', meaning 'talk'. If the DPR members do not speak, why do the people pay their salaries from the APBN?" asked Deddy.

Deddy said again, the MKD should be made to protect the freedom of DPR members to speak, not to curb or punish. He said it would be very dangerous for the DPR if the MKD was used as a means to cut the mouths of its members.

"When every critical attitude of council members is framed as a crime through 'community complaints', the DPR has the potential to just be a stamp for power. Something that is certainly contrary to the reason the DPR created an institution called the MKD," he concluded.