Education bill's passage delayed<\/p>\n
Kurniawan Hari, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
The House of Representatives failed on Tuesday to pass the
\ncontroversial education bill after a lengthy and enervating
\nplenary session that was marked by a boycott by all of the
\nIndonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan) faction
\nmembers.<\/p>\n
House deputy speaker Muhaimin Iskandar said in his remarks
\nconcluding the day's session at around 10 p.m. that the plenary
\nmeeting was adjourned until Wednesday at 7.30 p.m., when the
\nHouse would listen to the views of the PDI Perjuangan and the
\nIndonesian Nationhood (KKI) factions, two factions that had
\ndemanded a delay until June 17.<\/p>\n
Both PDI Perjuangan and KKI factions have 165 seats between
\nthem in the 500-member House.<\/p>\n
\"The session will resume tomorrow evening to hear the final
\nwords of both the PDI Perjuangan and the KKI factions, but we
\nwon't need a quorum or approval from the House steering committee
\nregarding the new schedule,\" said Muhaimin, who presided over the
\nplenary meeting.<\/p>\n
The session opened at around 9 a.m., but was declared
\nincapable of making any decisions as it had failed to meet the
\nquorum, mostly because the 153 PDI Perjuangan faction members
\neither refused to sign the attendance list or failed to turn up
\nfor the meeting.<\/p>\n
For the duration of most of the proceedings, all the PDI
\nPerjuangan legislators were gathered in a room away from the
\nwhere the plenary session was taking place.<\/p>\n
Despite their approval of the delay, seven factions in favor
\nof the education bill insisted that whatever the PDI Perjuangan
\nand KKI factions said on Wednesday, they would not be able to
\ncancel out the majority's decision to pass the bill.<\/p>\n
The government, represented by Minister of National Education
\nMalik Fadjar and Coordinating Minister for People's Welfare Jusuf
\nKalla, will also be given a chance to present its overview on
\nWednesday.<\/p>\n
The Golkar Party, Reform Party, National Awakening Party,
\nUnited Development Party, Crescent Star Party, Ummat Sovereignty
\nParty and the Military\/Police faction all expressed in their
\nrespective remarks their approval for the bill, which has seen
\nminor changes following lobbying by Muhaimin to bridge the
\ndifference in opinion between the two camps earlier in the day.<\/p>\n
After four hours of lobbying involving all House leaders,
\nfaction leaders and the government's representatives, the House
\nagreed to merge the articles on the goals and functions of
\nnational education into one article.<\/p>\n
The lobbyists also signed an agreement to delay the
\nendorsement of the bill until June 17.<\/p>\n
The long-standing controversy over the bill centers on the
\ngovernment's intervention in educational affairs and the
\nrequirement for schools to provide religious instruction for
\nstudents according to their respective faiths.<\/p>\n
The bill has divided the country by religion, with most of the
\nMuslim community supporting the bill, and minority Christians
\nrejecting it.<\/p>\n
Some Christian schools have threatened to ignore the bill
\nshould it be endorsed.<\/p>\n
The PDI Perjuangan, the largest faction in the House,
\ninitiated a last minute move to slow down the bill's passage,
\nwith chairwoman Megawati Soekarnoputri demanding a delay in the
\nbill's endorsement pending the further dissemination of
\ninformation to the public, or the bill's revision should this
\nprove necessary.<\/p>\n
\"The chairwoman wants the bill to be accepted by everybody
\nbased upon a consensus,\" PDI Perjuangan legislator Noviantika
\nNasution said on Tuesday.<\/p>\n
A source said Megawati, in her capacity as the President, had
\nsummoned Jusuf Kalla, Malik Fadjar and the chairman of the PDI
\nPerjuangan faction, Roy B.B. Janis, on Monday night to convey her
\nrequest.<\/p>\n
The PDI Perjuangan deputy secretary Pramono Anung said the
\nparty viewed the bill as having the potential to spark unrest.
\nTherefore, it needed to be better explained first to the public.<\/p>\n
He warned that the bill was not only raising concerns in Java,
\nbut in other regions such as Papua, Maluku, and North Sumatra
\nwhere people felt that it could threaten national unity.<\/p>\n
The session resumed after the lobbying effort ended at about
\n7.30 p.m., with all factions present being given time to make
\nconcluding statements.<\/p>\n
Hearing that the majority insisted on the endorsement of the
\nbill, Muhaimin reminded the legislators of the agreement signed
\nearlier. But this sparked interjections from the floor.<\/p>\n
\"Our failure to endorse the bill today will give rise to
\nincreasing disappointment among the public,\" Agun Gunanjar of
\nGolkar said. \"There is no reason to delay the endorsement as none
\nof the factions object to the bill. The absence of the PDI
\nPerjuangan legislators is nothing short of contempt of the
\nHouse.\"<\/p>\n
Tens of thousands of Muslim demonstrators held a rally in
\nfront of the House building to apply pressure on legislators, and
\neight Muslim leaders met with the Golkar Party faction to demand
\nthe immediate passage of the bill.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/education-bills-passage-delayed-1447893297",
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