Aria Bima Says Commission II Has Comprehensive Data to Lead Election Bill Deliberations

Deputy Chairman of Commission II of the Indonesian House of Representatives (DPR RI), Aria Bima, hopes that the deliberation of the Election Law (RUU Pemilu) bill will remain accommodated by the Special Committee (Pansus) of Commission II, rather than being transferred to a large cross-commission Special Committee. Aria stressed that based on the Priority National Legislation Programme (Prolegnas), the revision of the Election Law is absolutely a proposed initiative of the DPR. Although the final decision on the special committee format rests with the DPR leadership, he recommends that the deliberation not be removed from Commission II of the DPR RI. “To this day, there is no change in the Prolegnas that the priority Prolegnas for the Election Bill is within the domain of DPR initiative. Now, whether it is a Commission Pansus or a large Pansus, we fully submit that to the leadership. But to this day, it remains a Commission II Pansus,” said Aria at the Parliament Complex, Senayan, Central Jakarta, on Wednesday (24/6). Aria explained that Commission II’s desire to directly oversee this regulatory draft is based on its possession of comprehensive data. Commission II is the direct working partner of all election organisers and relevant ministries, thus holding all records of past election law enforcement shortcomings. All dynamics, from result disputes at the Constitutional Court (MK), ethical violations at the Election Organiser Honour Council (DKPP), Bawaslu supervision, KPU execution, to notes from the Ministry of Home Affairs (Kemendagri), are within Commission II’s data compilation. “We have complete data and information on the problems to resolve the priority issues. Such as central and regional Constitutional Court rulings, such as the parliamentary threshold, the presidential threshold, and also the non-involvement of state apparatus,” said the PDI-Perjuangan politician. Besides the issue of state apparatus neutrality, Aria also highlighted the importance of strengthening the supervisory function. He criticised the slow execution capacity in handling violations by Bawaslu, which needs to be improved in the new bill. According to him, the Election Law is indeed designed to be revised every five years as a corrective action. “That is where Commission II has sufficiently strong and mature references, although I believe that even if it were a large Pansus, the majority would also be Commission II members,” he explained. Aria did not deny the argument that a Large Pansus is often chosen because it can involve Commission XI to dissect the budgetary and financial aspects of elections. However, he assessed that this limitation could be circumvented through internal political party mechanisms in parliament. “This is what Commission II does not have, but we usually have parties also ad-hoc assign members from other commissions to Commission II,” concluded Aria.