Bill deliberation back to square one<\/p>\n
Kurniawan Hari and Fabiola Desy Unidjaja, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
At least Rp 1.35 billion (US$150,000) in taxpayers money will be
\nwasted as the House of Representatives prepares to deliberate 36
\nof the 67 bills left over by their predecessors.<\/p>\n
A member of the House's legislation committee, Zainal Arifin,
\nsaid on Wednesday the deliberation of the bills would be
\nrestarted to give the new lawmakers a chance to convey their
\nviews.<\/p>\n
\"With a new political makeup, we can't continue the
\ndeliberation of the unfinished bills. We will start the law
\nmaking process right from the beginning again,\" Zainal told The
\nJakarta Post after a meeting of the legislation committee.<\/p>\n
A bill is deliberated either by a House special committee or
\nthe relevant House commission, with more or less 50 legislators
\nbeing involved for each bill. Every lawmaker taking part in the
\ndeliberation process receives an allowance of Rp 750,000 per
\nbill, but the House also has to allocate additional funds for
\nstationery and meals. In many cases, the deliberation of bills is
\nmoved to star-rated hotels, which means even more money.<\/p>\n
Absenteeism was to blame for the failure on the part of the
\nprevious crop of legislators to complete the deliberation of many
\nbills.<\/p>\n
A day after the squabbling House factions agreed to start
\nwork, the legislation committee met for the first time on
\nWednesday to map out its one-year legislative program.<\/p>\n
The meeting resulted in a decision to focus on 36 left-over
\nbills. They include the bills on the national currency,
\neradication of racial and ethnic discrimination, the presidency,
\nministerial offices, the presidential advisory council, and
\ncitizenship.<\/p>\n
During the first hearing held by the House's security
\ncommission earlier in the day, State Minister for Communications
\nand Information Sofyan A. Djalil said the government hoped to
\ncontinue the deliberation of the bills on freedom of information,
\nofficial secrets and national intelligence.<\/p>\n
\"Ideally, the three bills should be discussed simultaneously
\nso that their contents will not contradict each other,\" he said.<\/p>\n
The government is also preparing a counter draft to the
\nmilitary justice bill on the grounds that many of the articles in
\nthe House-sponsored bill contradict articles of the Indonesian
\nMilitary\/TNI Law (No. 34 of 2004) and the National Defense Law
\n(No. 3 of 2002).<\/p>\n
The defense ministry's director general of defense potential,
\nRear Air Marshall Pieter Wattimena, said on Wednesday that there
\nwere 82 articles in the House-sponsored draft that need revising.<\/p>\n
\"Those articles are very substantive and must not contradict
\nthe current TNI Law and National Defense Law,\" Pieter said after
\na meeting with President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.<\/p>\n
Pieter said the government's version of the bill would contain
\nprovisions to give effect to international humanitarian
\nregulations and the Geneva Conventions on war and prisoners of
\nwar.<\/p>\n
People's Consultative Assembly Decrees No. 6\/2000 and
\nNo.7\/2000 say soldiers who violate military regulations should
\nface a military tribunal, while those who commit general crimes
\nshould be tried in the district (civilian) court. The military
\ncourts also come under the oversight of the Supreme Court.<\/p>\n
\"We have to define what criminal acts are and what war crimes
\nare,\" Pieter said.<\/p>\n
State Secretary Yusril Ihza Mahendra said the government would
\nconsult the House leaders to discuss the possibility of the
\ngovernment proposing the alternative military justice bill.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Minister of Justice and Human Rights Hamid
\nAwaluddin said his ministry was ready to submit six new bills to
\nthe House, including the controversial draft revision of the
\nCriminal Code, and bills on immigration and money laundering.<\/p>",
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