Page 280 - BUKU A CENTURY OF PARLIAMENTARY LIFE IN INDONESIA

AFTERWORD

the Council carried out their duties actually became an obstacle to the
creation of checks and balances mechanism.

Likewise, reading the long journey of parliamentary life in Indonesia, we
can understand that it is not easy to be the representative of millions
of people. The struggle to voice the people’s voice does not end when
a politician is elected and enters parliament as a representative of the
people. Instead, it is when the real work of bringing people’s aspirations
has actually just begun.

There are political forces in parliament that must be balanced. There are
socio-political-economic-cultural issues in society that must be recon-
ciled. There are technological advances that need to be adapted. All of
these are done so that the voices brought from the voting booths appear
in debates and discussions in parliamentary meeting rooms. Whether
the voices are realized or not, that is another matter.

A century of parliamentary life in Indonesia should have been completed
in 2018, which was exactly 100 years since the Volksraad was born in
the country which was later named Indonesia. However, that year was
only a year away from the end of the term of office of the DPR as a result
of the 2014 election. There were no significant events during that one
year period, so the period of a century of parliamentary life in Indonesia
was taken from 1918-2018. It was a long learning journey for Indonesian
people to have their representatives.

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