JAKARTA, 05 August 2004 - New faces will dominate Indonesia's next government following the country's April 5 legislative polls, according to official election documents. The Kompas newspaper says new faces make up 72 per cent of the country's next Parliament or People's Representative Council (DPR). It based its conclusion on the list of names of the incoming Members of Parliament, released on Tuesday by the Indonesian General Election Commission.
The Jakarta Post has the percentage of legislative freshmen at 60 and says most of them are from the Democrat Party and the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS). Among the new faces are a number of pop culture celebrities, such as television actor Dede Macan Yusuf, comedian Qomar and former pageant queen Angelina Sondakh. The naming of Parliament Members comes three months after the final tallies from the mammoth voting exercise, in which President Megawati Sukarnoputri's Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) suffered disastrous losses at the hands of the Golkar party of former dictator Suharto.
The result, marked by minor success for upstart parties campaigning on an anti-graft ticket, was seen as a reaction to economic woes and corruption under the rule of Ms Megawati's PDI-P. It also bode ill for Ms Megawati's re-election chances in presidential polls which saw her come second behind her former Security Minister Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono in first-round voting. Run-off polls will take place next month.
Out of 550 DPR seats, Golkar holds 127 against 109 for the PDI-P, while four other parties have taken more than 50 seats each. The Islamic-based United Development Party of Vice-President Hamzah Haz has 58 seats, Mr Bambang's Democrat Party takes 56, and the National Mandate Party of National Assembly chairman Amien Rais secures 53. The National Awakening Party of former President Abdurrahman Wahid takes 52 seats, while the emergent Muslim-based PKS has 45.
Following presidential approval, legislators are scheduled to be sworn in for a five-year term in October. Analyst Daniel Sparingga of the Surabaya, East Java-based Airlangga University, says the performance of legislators does not depend on their experience. 'What counts most is...their commitment to heeding the views of their constituents.'

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