Page 246 - BUKU STRENGTHENING THE INDONESIAN PARLIAMENTARY DIPLOMACY FADLI ZON

The Role of GOPAC in

Parliamentarian Support Including

the SDGs Handbook

Thank you for making your time to attend GOPAC Special Session at the 7th Session of the
Conference of the State Parties to the UNCAC, to discuss about “Oversight Matters and MPs
Improving Development Effectiveness.”

The theme of this session has a strong link to our daily work as parliamentarians. Oversight
is one of the core parliamentary mandates. Our job in this area of oversight is to hold our
government—the executive—to account. With no parliamentary oversight, the executive power
will be absolute, often leads to abusive power, making people powerless.

The tools, procedures and even subject of this parliamentary oversight may vary. Some of which
may have the strongest actions which lead to a full and details government scrutiny and some
may come in a more modest way, only to ask—in a committee hearing, inquiry and others—
with no certain consequences to public governance. It, therefore, depends on how strong a
political will of a state to provide a strong governance to defend the public.

THE SCOPE OF OVERSIGHT

The 2017 IPU Global Parliamentary Report focusing on Parliamentary Oversight illustrates the
scope of parliamentary oversight to be: the review, monitoring and supervision of government
and public agencies, including the implementation of policy, legislation and budgets.

It is important for parliamentarians, to reserve the rights of oversight be on individual basis or a
collective one as a parliament. Yet, this set of institutional restrain of power will be meaningless
if we have low political will or the institution of parliament is, generally, weak.

Selected Speeches of the Vice Speaker of the House of Representatives of the Republic of Indonesia I 233