President Prabowo Asked to Convince His Supporting Political Parties in the DPR to Withdraw Revision of DPR Tatib

JAKARTA, KOMPAS – President Prabowo Subianto is considered to have an interest in the expansion of the DPR's authority, which can evaluate state officials he appoints and even recommend their dismissal. This authority of the DPR undermines the President's authority. Additionally, it has the potential to disrupt the independence of state institutions.

The Head of the Department of Politics and Social Change at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), Arya Fernandes, stated that the results of the revision clearly do not align with the presidential system that adheres to the separation of powers, particularly in this case, the separation of the executive and legislative branches. The legislative branch should function solely as an overseer, while the functions of evaluation and dismissal lie with the executive branch.

The new authority in the DPR's Tatib also creates confusion because the law that serves as the legal umbrella for the formation of every state institution whose leaders are elected by the DPR has already regulated the requirements and mechanisms for the dismissal of the institution's leaders.

In addition, he sees that the new authority in the DPR's Rules of Procedure has the potential to eliminate the independence of state institutions whose leaders are elected by the DPR. The reason is that they can easily be recommended for replacement if they do not align with the wishes of the DPR.

Based on that, Arya sees the importance of President Prabowo stepping in and convincing the leaders of the supporting political parties that control the parliament to revise the DPR's rules of procedure.

"If the President does not respond to this, the impact will be a loss of part of his authority in evaluating state institutions," he said when contacted from Jakarta, Friday (7/2/2025).

President Prabowo's encouragement, according to him, can also test the solidity of the supporting political parties in parliament. In the DPR, seven out of eight factions are factions of political parties supporting Prabowo's administration. Only the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) is outside the government.

Election Law Lecturer at the Faculty of Law, University of Indonesia, Titi Anggraini, also opined that President Prabowo, as the leader of the coalition, could intervene, for example, by asking coalition parties not to allow such provisions.

"Prabowo's position as the leader of a coalition consisting of the majority of parties in parliament means he can relatively intervene in policy," said Titi.

According to Titi, it is important for Prabowo to do this so that his administration does not leave a bad legacy. When political parties make unconstitutional policies, it can be associated with Prabowo's administration, especially since the leadership of the coalition parties is very dominant in the DPR.

Separately, Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives from the Gerindra Party Faction Sufmi Dasco Ahmad stated that the DPR Tatib only applies internally and to encourage the performance of DPR supervision. The DPR still does not have the authority to dismiss the leaders of other state institutions.

The evaluation by the DPR, Dasco continued, only produced recommendations, while the dismissal of the head of the institution still refers to the applicable laws and regulations. He also denied the circulating issue regarding the authority of the DPR to dismiss the heads of other state institutions.

"Actually there is no direction there (dismissal). Indeed, we are also a bit confused, why then the issue is directed there. In response to the criticisms that exist, we have explained, this revision only applies internally in order to encourage the supervisory function," he said.

"So I have to fix it. Don't let there be a sentence that is out of place so that it creates a different connotation in society. This recommendation is not binding to the outside, and later the results may suggest to the government," he added.

Previously, the Chairman of the Legislative Body (Baleg) of the DPR, Bob Hasan, said that one of the recommendations that the DPR could produce from its new authority was the dismissal of state officials. According to him, this is important as a sanction for state officials who are no longer performing well. He said that the results of the recommendations are binding, which means that all parties must obey them.

Meanwhile, the Palace did not want to comment on the DPR's decision to expand its authority. This is because the rules of procedure are binding rules within the DPR organization.

"We do not want to comment on the DPR's rules of procedure because the rules of procedure are binding on the DPR organization," said Head of the Presidential Communications Office Hasan Nasbi in Jakarta, Friday (7/2/2025).

He also emphasized that there was no polemic between the government and the DPR regarding the revision of the tatib. Currently, the relationship between the executive and legislative is fine. "So far I think there is no polemic, the polemic is only in the media. Between the government and the DPR so far there is no polemic," said Hasan.