Chairman Price Leads HDAC Delegation to Partner Nation Indonesia
The House Democracy Assistance Commission (HDAC) sent a bipartisan delegation of six House members to Indonesia from February 15 to 24, 2008. The trip marked the Commission's ninth congressional delegation since its establishment in 2005. Rep. David Price (D-NC) led the group, which included Reps. John Boozman (R-AR), Sam Farr (D-CA), Mazie Hirono (D-HI), Jim McDermott (D-WA), and Michael Conaway (R-TX). This was the third visit to Indonesia by an HDAC delegation since the partnership was launched in 2006.
The focus of the HDAC partnership in Indonesia seeks to promote strengthening the legislature's control over their budget and staff, organizing committee hearings, developing constituent relations, and improving capacity for independent research and budget analysis. Since HDAC's first congressional delegation to Indonesia, led by former Rep. Jim Kolbe (R-AZ) in February 2006, the Commission's efforts had interesting effects. Speaker Agung Laksono last year formed a Study Team to develop reform proposals for the DPR, which issued a report last December. To follow up on the Study Team's recommendations, the Speaker created an Implementation Team to put those findings into action over the next two years. One of the most critical focuses of the reform effort is pending legislation to give the DPR control of its own budget and staff.
The delegation began its trip with a visit to the province of Aceh, in northern Sumatra. Aceh suffered from a 30-year armed separatist struggle that ended in 2005. The province was also severely impacted by an earthquake and tsunami in 2004, which may have killed more than 200,000 Achenese. The delegation met with the regional legislature, or DPRD, and discussed issues such as reconciliation between the regional and national government, assistance to victims of the conflict, and economic development. The U.S. lawmakers also visited several program sites funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) that offer tsunami-related humanitarian aid.
On its first day in Jakarta, the delegation met with Speaker Agung Laksono, who noted the progress that the DPR is making toward gaining control over its own staff and budget. Following their meeting, members of the delegation spoke with parliamentary groups that have been active in promoting reforms and discussed the challenges that reformers face in passing reforms into law and managing their own staff and budget.
The delegation spent much of its second day in Jakarta concentrating on working with the DPR to strengthen their budget analysis and constituent relations. Members of the delegation met with the DPR Budget Committee and discussed the creation of a budget analysis office. They also discussed with the House Administration Committee the importance of independent legislative staff and budgets and the need for strong constituent relations. In addition, the U.S. lawmakers met with Commission I, responsible for foreign affairs, defense, and communications.
An important aspect of the HDAC trip was interaction between staff. Staff from the Congressional Research Service held meetings with the P3DI, the Indonesian Parliamentary research and staff. P3DI staff presented overviews of their organization and identified their goals and concerns for the future, including their desire to become part of an independent legislature. The Indonesian staff then broke into smaller groups to have more intensive discussions with their U.S. counterparts.
In addition to their meetings with the legislative branch in Indonesia, the delegation also met with President Yudhoyono. After leaving Indonesia, U.S. lawmakers also visited Thailand and Georgia. In Thailand, the HDAC delegation became the first congressional delegation to meet with the new prime minister and members of the new parliament, who were elected in December 2007. In Georgia, the delegation met with both ruling party and opposition Members to discuss the January 2008 elections.