Peran Pelobi

Bermula ketika Presiden Amerika Ullyses Grant sedang berada di Lobby Willards Hotel Washington dengan mengisap cerutu sambil minum brandy, dan ngobrol ngobrol yang akhirnya menghasilkan keputusan yang memuaskan semua pihak.

Sejak itu mulai dikenal istilah ‘lobby’, dimana keputusan keputusan penting yang sulit di ambil diruang kerja menjadi lebih mudah diputuskan. Namun, pada saat itu, kegiatan lobby lebih banyak berhubungan dengan Parlemen dan Eksekutif, belum sampai merambah ke banyak bidang yang tidak selalu berhubungan dengan Parlemen dan Eksekutif seperti sekarang ini.

Though many see lobbying as a potential corruption to the system, others

disagree. Bill Clinton defended his wife's reception of lobbyist money for

her campaign by saying:

" Lobbyists are registered, they register with the federal government

and can give the same amount of money, $2300, anybody else can. That's not

going to influence you. What gives the lobbyists influence is the people who

hire them for work for them. It's all the people they represent. So all

these people who don't take money from lobbyists, they take money from the

lobbyists' spouses, their children, their brothers, their sisters, from all

the people they represent. It's a distinction without a difference, I think.

There's no significant financial gain, because there's not that many

lobbyists. If we're going to take money from the guys who pay the lobbyists,

why treat them [the lobbyists] as less than full citizens ?”

Di Amerika Serikat, diperlukan waktu yang sangat panjang sampai akhirnya Lobby sebagai sebuah profesi diakui eksistensinya. Demikian juga dengan Lobbyist di negara Europa lainnya, eksistensinya diakui dan syah menurut Undang Undang Negara.

Berbeda dengan Indonesia. Selama ini istilah Lobbyist bisa dibilang hanya milik partai politik atau anggota parlemen. Praktis, kegiatan lobi kebanyakan dilakukan antar Fraksi yang di parlemen, atau antara Departement dengan Parlemen. Karenanya istilah lobby menjadi kurang menyebar baik bidang maupun ruang lingkupnya.

Princentown refference malah menulis :

A Day in the life of a Lobbyist

Whether lobbyists work for a large organization, a private individual, or

the general public, their goals and strategies are the same.

Dan.

Paying Your Dues

Lobbying is a profession full of people who have changed careers, since

relevant knowledge and experience are all you really need to become a

lobbyist. There are no licensing or certification requirements, but

lobbyists are required to register with the state and federal governments.

Most lobbyists have college degrees. A major in political science,

journalism, law, communications, public relations, or economics should stand

future lobbyists in good stead. While you're still in college you can check

out the terrain through various government-related internships-as a

congressional aide, in a government agency, or with a lobbying firm, for

example. Any of these positions will give you a look at the role of lobbying

in the political system. After college the same holds-working in a

government or political office, especially as a congressional aide, takes

you to the front lines, but it may also be useful to start out in a law or

public relations firm. Many lobbyists also come from careers as legislators,

as former politicians often capitalize on their years of government service

and their connections to old pals still in office. This is the "revolving

door" that recent legislation has begun to regulate (see "Past and Future").

Indeed, networking is the name of the game in lobbying, where people are

hired as much for who they know as what they know. Someone who can schmooze

at high levels will start his lobbying career from an accordingly high

perch, while others face a long hard climb upwards. While there is no

hierarchy of seniority as in corporations, this also means that there is no

ceiling for those who do well”.

Dari sedikit ilustrasi diatas, bisa di tarik kesimpulan, bagaimana pentingnya sosok lobbyist yang apabila bisa berperan secara profesional dan diakui keberadaannya akan membuat banyak perubahan di dalam sistim ketatanegaraan dari sebuah negara.

Sebagai tambahan ilustrasi, berikut sebuah kutipan dari sebuah bulletin board tentang kiprah lobbyist di kota Brussels:

“There are currently around 15,000 lobbyists in Brussels (consultants,

lawyers, associations, corporations, NGOs etc.) seeking to influence the EU's

legislative process. Some 2,600 special interest groups have a permanent

office in Brussels. Their distribution is roughly as follows: European trade

federations (32%), consultants (20%), companies (13%), NGOs (11%), national

associations (10%), regional representations (6%), international

organizations (5%) and think tanks (1%), (Lehmann, 2003, pp iii)”.

Bagaimana dengan Indonesia ?. Bisa dibilang di Indonesia sampai saat ini belum mengenal istilah lobbyist atau pelobi sebagaimana pengertian lobbyist atau pelobi yang sudah eksis di negara-negara maju. Bahkan sampai saat ini, pengertian lobbyist atau pelobi masih tetap cenderung identik dengan politikus-politikus yang menjadi anggota fraksi-fraksi yang ada di parlemen. Seakan tak ada ruang tumbuh bagi lahirnya pelobi-pelobi profesional yang semestinya tidak harus identik dengan seorang politikus.

sur