IDEA recently organized two study visits by Indonesia’s senate – the Regional Representative Council, called the DPD – to South Africa’s National Council of Provinces and to the Australian Senate. Both visits sought to strengthen the DPD’s oversight of Indonesia’s national budget, develop stronger links with constituents, and establish simple yet robust administrative support for its members.
The DPD has only been in operation since October 2004. Its leadership is seeking to learn how other regional chambers operate around the world. Five DPD delegates, led by their chairman, Professor Ginandjar Kartasasmita, visited Cape Town, South Africa. The group saw firsthand how a new chamber has coped with the challenges of establishing itself in a young democracy.
The South Africa’s National Council of Provinces (NCOP) provided a good counterpart to learn from, as it has a lot of similarities with the DPD: NCOP is also relatively new, operating since 1996. Both Indonesia and South Africa came out of a long struggle against non-democratic rule within four years of each other – South Africa in 1994 and Indonesia in 1998. Both are large developing countries where regional aspirations have for years lacked a voice in national politics. The absence of political participation by the regions is important in view of the huge differences between provinces in terms of industrialization, natural resources and population.
The DPD delegation also held meetings with the Constitutional Court in Pretoria, the South African Local Government Association, and the Gauteng Provincial Legislature in Johannesburg. A full report of the study visit is available in English and Indonesian at
www.ideaindo.or.id
In May, DPD participants visited the Australian Senate in Canberra. The event coincided with the Senate’s hearings on the national budget. The delegation was lead by DPD Deputy Chairman Irman Gusman, and included representatives from Bali, Western Indonesia, and Eastern Indonesia. The focus was to learn how the Australian Senate has built an extremely efficient yet streamlined secretariat. The DPD group also met with key political actors, including Foreign Minister Alexander Downer.
For more information, contact
Indraneel Datta, IDEA programme officer for Southeast Asia.
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