House Office Building and Ethics Code Violations
House of Representatives office building lays as one of the infrastructure in Indonesia. Careful planning, sufficient funds, procedural building realization and meticulous monitoring are major aspects which determine state-building success in supporting the performance of board members as representatives of the people. On the other hand, construction of buildings that should be done for the benefit of the people can lead to some ethical problems when the implementation is ridden by certain interests, such as for private profit, or when it doesn't refer to the proper goal.
In its official site, House (2011) states that the Nusantara I building, that is still used now, is no longer suitable to accommodate the parliament members activities. One of the House members Setya Novanto (2011) in Forum Bebas said that a representative room for the House members is urgently required because the existing building isnot enough to accommodate 1300 members and 350 experts. Setya expects that the building will be carried out. He sings the same tune as one of House of Representatives’ member in BURT, Michael Wattimena (2010) who insisted that the construction will go ahead whatsoever, because the funding is available.
The funds, according to team leader of building construction projects, Budi Sukada (Kompas, 2010), will be used to facilitate the capitol with a 120 m2 working area per person as well as luxurious amenities such as spa, swimming pool and fitness center: "Because they are people’s representative, not (common) office workers", he explained. This statement, of course, invited fierce responses from various parties. The Chairman of the National Mandate Party (PAN) Tjatur Sapto Edy (Kompas, 2011) assumes that the workspace area for each member of the House (120 m2) is too large because it is equivalent to first-echelon standard room according to the Minister of Public Works Regulation. His opinion is supported by Illian Deta Sari from Indonesia Corruption Watch (2010). Illian believes those luxurious facilities show that The House does not pay attention to people's needs, and only pay attention to their own interests.
Apart from the issue of whether or not to have a new building, many parties also are critical of the process of procurement of Building Design Consultant and Construction Management Consultant that turned out to be avoiding tender processes or prize contests. According to the House (2011), the Procurement process in 2009 and 2010 was carried out by direct-appointment. This method is contrary to state regulations, in this case is the Presidential Decree Number 80/ Perpres 54, where direct appointments are made only under certain conditions such as during the "emergency treatment that can’t be predicted in advance and the completion time of job should has to be completed immediately/ not to be delayed, ... concerning in the interest of national defense... or if the work can only be done by one (1) Provider of Consultancy Services, or if the job ... can only be done by one (1) copyright holder ...". However, those conditions do not apply to the building. But, the Parliament does not seem to pay attention whether they were doing the right procedure or not. The House insisted on carrying out a direct appointment. This gives impression that the Procurement of Building Design Consultant and Construction Management Consultant was just a fake and seemed to have certain tendencies.
Still according to Presidential Decree 80/ Perpres 54, the appropriate procurement for building construction are either by a general selection or through a prize contest. In its official site (2010) IAI (Indonesian Institute of Architects) also stated that a prize contest is the most appropriate way to do it because it would implement an open and democratic system and also would allow people to express some aspirations. A prize contest would also allow a team of competent judges to bring some objective assessments to selected designs, those will obtain a beautiful and functional building design and of course an affordable design. One of most appropriate candidate sto be on the judging team is the IAI itself as it is a professional organization in the field of architecture. But the House does not seem to want IAI to be involved in the capitol building procedure.
On May 18, 2009, the House was holding a hearing between the Steering Committee Re-Structuring by IAI, INKINDO (National Association of Indonesian Consultants) and PT. Yodya Karya (as the Building Design Consultant) and decided to hold a workshop in June in order to obtain some input regarding the Building Complex MPR / DPR / DPD (House, 2010). In the workshop, IAI submitted proposals for organizing a prize contest, but the contest was never realized by the House. The next year, instead of accepting IAI’s proposal, the House continued the planning process by using old capitol design that had appeared first in 2008 and then re-appeared in 2009.
Darul Siska (2011), a former parliament member (2004-2009) who was involved in the process of planning the building explains that the design of the building had previously been rejected by his team. Darul also confirms that his team had suggested a prize contest to be held in 2009 so that they would create a building that could be useful for the next 50-100 years. Darul was quite surprised because the rejected design suddenly reappears after a change of board members, and the old idea of running a contest was then forgotten. A surprising statement was made by Nining Indra Saleh (2011), General Secretary of Parliament representing the House who assumes that the contest does not need to be held. She explained that the workshop in July 2009 in Pustaka Loka was in place of a contest. According to her, the workshop would adequately represent the process of competition because it also involved IAI and architecture practitioners of famous colleges. It later turned out to clarify the position of the House who did not want to accept the aspirations of IAI, even though IAI was also involved in the workshop.
Related to that, IAI had responded the House in the 2010 workshop, and actually had proposed a postponement to the project because there were many things that needed to be re-examined. IAI wanted a transparent, accountable and participatory design process through a design contest mechanism. IAI would 100% support the procurement of the contest. In fact, IAI input just 'entered one ear and out the other’, was ignored by the House of Representatives. On March 14, 2011, through the House’ LPSE portal, they kept carrying out the multi year construction project of the capitol with a total amount of Rp 1,138,228,000,000.00, as if they had never got any input, or had never been told by anyone. The House seemed to look after a formality, pretending to consult with IAI or any other professional institutions as a mask to justify the controversial procurement process of capitol building.
The issues of ethics code violation were compounded by the involvement of some architects of IAI in the design process of capitol. Rizal Syarifuddin (IAI Mailing list, 2010) who worked personally on behalf of PT Yodya Karya, gave statements through a letter in the mailing list IAI, that although he is indeed the Secretary General of the IAI, but as the architect of the Capitol, he worked on behalf of the Yodya Karya, not as a representative of IAI "... Auction winner Consultant, PT Yodya Karya, got a letter of employment agreement by September 18, 2008. I got the assignment from PT. Yodya Karya by 19 September 2008.", he wrote. The House seemed to carry Rizal in the process, and used his name to make it looks like IAI was involved, and used the name of IAI to cover up their behavior.
On the other hand Rizal’s comment raised a new question. Did Rizal also violate the ethics code of architects? Rizal was appointed PT Yodya Karya on 19 September 2008, but why did his design appeared since 2007? According to ethics code of professional architects, of course, he must understand his responsibility to put the interests of the state and nation. He could not put interests in any cases first which proved contrary to the laws and regulations.
Even though the capitol bidding process had been discontinued by the date of May 23, 2011, there will still be some tendencies to ethics code violations in the future. Strict supervision by government should be strengthened. In the midst of poverty in this country, luxurious buildings really are not a genius idea. Development must be carried out in accordance to the proper portion, and must be according to a regulatory filing. And as the capitol is a building of people's representatives, it would be better if people also were involved in the design process. A transparent and integrated planning process will create a masterpiece and also will be a source of pride for everyone.
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Picture: (www.dpr.go.id)
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