The Effectiveness of the DPR’s Constitutional Rights in Overseeing the Executive Amid the Dominance of the Governing Coalition

Abstract

This article examines three constitutional rights of the People’s Representative Council (DPR) as stipulated in Article 20A(2) of the 1945 Constitution and operationalized through Law No. 17 of 2014 on the People’s Consultative Assembly (MPR), the People’s Representative Council (DPR), the Regional Representative Council (DPD), and Regional People’s Representative Councils (DPRD) (MD3 Law): the right to conduct an inquiry, the right to interpellation, and the right to express an opinion. These three rights constitute the most powerful instruments of constitutional oversight held by the DPR in carrying out its checks and balances function against the executive branch. This study covers the constitutional and normative foundations, the step-by-step mechanisms for exercising each right, quorum requirements, the relationship between these three rights and the process of impeaching the President or Vice President, an analysis of historical practices in Indonesia (including the 2009–2010 Bank Century inquiry and the 2017 KPK inquiry), as well as a comparative analysis with similar instruments in the parliaments of other countries. This article argues that the effectiveness of these three constitutional rights depends heavily on the dynamics of political coalitions in the DPR and that the prolonged dominance of the governing coalition poses the greatest threat to their function as an effective oversight mechanism.