Page 170 - BUKU A CENTURY OF PARLIAMENTARY LIFE IN INDONESIA

THE NEW FACE OF INDONESIAN PARLIAMENT
(1959-1966)

people is in the MPR as the executor of sovereignty. This is intended so
that the MPR is truly “The People’s Congress”, and as the incarnation of
the people or the only highest state institution.

The House of Representatives in the Indonesian constitutional system is
a state institution that carries out these parliamentary functions. In terms
of supervision, the function of the legislature in an independent society
under the rule of law is to create and maintain conditions that will pre-
serve the dignity of a person as an individual.

However, history stated that the DPR did not always have a strong and
solid position in carrying out its supervisory function over the govern-
ment. After going through a dynamic process during the Parliamentary
Democracy period in the 1950s, the DPR was no longer able to pres-
ent complete checks and balances with the executive power. The Presi-
dential Decree of 5 July 1959 became the starting
point for the function of parliament in Indonesia at
that time, at least until almost 40 years later.

From the legal aspect, the legality of the Presi- “What was meant by
dential Decree can still trigger debate until now. a Presidential Decree
Some people said that the decree was an uncon- (Penpres) as explained
stitutional method adopted by the Government
of President Soekarno after seeing the failure of in the Elucidation of the
the Constitutional Assembly to form a new con- Presidential Decree of
stitution to replace the Provisional Constitution the Republic of Indonesia
of 1950 and the series of political events during
the Parliamentary Democracy period. However, Number 1 of 1959
another opinion stated that the Decree of 5 July concerning the House of
1959 had a legal basis for staatsnoodrecht, which Representatives was a
referred to a state of emergency. In its subjective
meaning, an emergency constitutional law (sta- Presidential Regulation
atsnoodrecht) becomes the authority of state au- prior to the existence
thorities to declare a danger even though there is
no written rule for it beforehand. of MPR-DPR and in
concreto in the context of
Therefore, the continuation of the Presidential De- the Presidential Decree
cree for the existence of the DPR occured when
on 22 July 1959, the government issued Presiden- implementation.”
tial Decree No. 1 of 1959 on the House of Repre -
sentatives. What was meant by a Presidential De-
cree (Penpres) as explained in the Elucidation of

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