House completes water bill deliberation in days<\/p>\n
Muninggar Sri Saraswati, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
The House of Representatives working committee has finished its
\ndeliberations on the controversial water resources bill in three
\ndays, enraging observers who say that legislators have ignored
\ncriticism of the bill.<\/p>\n
\"The working committee has deliberated the bill, which is
\ncurrently being reviewed by the special team,\" chairman of the
\nworking committee Erman Soeparno said over the weekend.<\/p>\n
The House assigned Commission IV on infrastructure to set up a
\nworking committee and special team to deliberate the bill, which
\nhas sparked controversy in recent months.<\/p>\n
The committee was tasked with deliberating the content of the
\nbill, while the special team has dealt mainly with the bill's
\nwording.<\/p>\n
Erman, of the National Awakening Party, said that the working
\ncommittee needed just three days because it only deliberated
\nseveral articles relating to water exports, a regulatory body and
\nirrigation.<\/p>\n
The committee started its deliberations on Dec. 3 and
\ncompleted them on Dec. 5, while the special team is expected to
\nfinish its job on Monday.<\/p>\n
Erman said that after the deliberations, the bill will be sent
\nto a plenary meeting for approval on Dec. 19.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, fellow legislators Erwin Pardede and Karimun, both
\nof the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle, anticipated no
\nsignificant changes at the plenary.<\/p>\n
\"Legislators on the working committee are representatives of
\nfactions,\" Karimun said.<\/p>\n
Erwin added that the faction meeting would likely not make any
\nchanges because most legislators agreed with the bill.<\/p>\n
Separately, observers lashed out at the House for ignoring
\npublic opposition to the bill, which, they say, had many
\ncontroversial articles.<\/p>\n
\"I'm very disappointed. They (the legislators) haven't changed
\neven a word, although they sought our responses,\" said Budi
\nWignyosukarto from Gadjah Mada University.<\/p>\n
He regretted that the House and government offer to discuss
\nthe bill with the public was only a token gesture.<\/p>\n
\"I haven't seen any goodwill from legislators. They don't
\ncare about the future of the country. This is about water --
\nsomething every human being needs,\" Budi said in disappointment.<\/p>\n
Instead of listening to public criticism of the bill, Budi
\nsaid, some legislators used the discussion with farmers and
\nothers for political purposes.<\/p>\n
\"They acted as if they were listening, but I heard they told
\nfarmers not to vote for parties that did not favor their
\ninterests,\" Budi said.<\/p>\n
Nila Ardhiani, of the Indonesia Forum on Globalization
\n(Infog), shared the same opinion as Budi, saying the House had
\nfailed to listen to public criticism of the bill during a series
\nof discussions held with people across the country.<\/p>\n
Environmentalists, experts and non-governmental organizations
\nhave repeatedly criticized the bill for treating water as an
\neconomic rather than social commodity.<\/p>\n
The House earlier asked the working committee to postpone
\ndeliberations on the bill due to public opposition concerning the
\ncommercialization of the water sector, ordering the committee to
\ncarry out more public participation during the delay.<\/p>\n
The House has, since then, conducted a series of roadshows
\nacross the country. The Ministry of Settlement and Regional
\nInfrastructure, which strongly supported deliberations on the
\nbill, even took two full pages in Kompas daily, the most widely
\nread newspaper in Indonesia, to publish all 96 articles of the
\nbill.<\/p>\n
In the advertisement, it asked readers to send their input to
\nthe ministry. Ultimately, only three readers responded to the
\ncall.<\/p>\n
Many have alleged that the hasty deliberations on the bill are
\nconnected with the last disbursement of a US$300 million loan,
\nunder the World Bank-sponsored Water Resources Sector Adjustment
\nLoan (WATSAL).<\/p>\n
Based on the WATSAL scheme, the World Bank will disburse the
\nloan in three stages. The first $50 million was disbursed in June
\n1999 and the second disbursement, amounting to $100 million?, was
\nmade at the end of 2001.<\/p>\n
The remaining $150 million will be disbursed once Indonesia
\ncompletes its water reform initiative, which includes the
\nenforcement of a water resources law that allows for
\nprivatization of the water sector.<\/p>\n
The World Bank has indicated that it may not disburse the
\nthird and last tranche of WATSAL due to possible failure by
\nIndonesia to produce a bill on water resources that met a 1999
\ncommitment on water resources policy reform.<\/p>\n
The government made a commitment with the World Bank on WATSAL
\nin 1999, when the government faced severe financial difficulties
\ndue to the prolonged economic crisis.<\/p>\n
According to the scheme, Indonesia had to reform its
\nlegislation on water to allow for its privatization.<\/p>\n
The World Bank has denied accusations over its possible
\ninvolvement in proposals to bring in huge foreign water companies
\nto invest in the nation's water supply sector.<\/p>",
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