Assembly starts Annual Session, workload small
Kurniawan Hari and M. Taufiqurrahman, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Approaching the end of its term ahead of the 2004 general elections, the country's highest lawmaking body, the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR), today starts its Annual Session with a much smaller workload than usual.
Unlike previous sessions when the MPR was tasked with amending the Constitution, this time around it only has low-key issues to handle, something that has made many analysts suggest that the gathering has already lost its relevance.
MPR members convene amid heightened security concerns in the wake of a string of terror attacks in the capital, with the latest explosion going off inside the MPR compound itself.
The annual session's main business this year consists of following up on the planned establishment of the constitutional commission, the revoking a series of Assembly decrees, and hearing reports from the President and a number of state institutions.
President Megawati Soekarnoputri is slated to deliver her progress report following the annual meeting's opening ceremony.
House Speaker Akbar Tandjung, State Audit Agency (BPK) head Satrio Budiharjo Joedono, and Chief Justice Bagir Manan will also deliver reports on their respective institutions.
The assembly session will have two commissions, A on the planned establishment of the constitutional commission and B on the review of around 100 obsolete decrees, something that has been proposed by the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan).
The main duties of the constitutional commission, which will have 31 members and a six-month tenure, is to review the Constitution. Many mass organizations have urged the Assembly to review the amendments to the Constitution that were quietly brought in last year.
Close to 700 MPR members are expected to attend the session, which will cost taxpayers Rp 20 billion (US$2.4 million).
As for security during the session, Insp. Gen. Makbul Padmanagara, the Jakarta Police chief, said that the force would deploy its full strength to secure the session.
Police have imposed a state of red alert in the city, meaning that police personnel are not permitted to take leave or to leave the city. The Jakarta Police has 20,895 personnel at its disposal.
A total of 1,300 personnel will be deployed to guard the 15- hectare House of Representatives/MPR compound and the Hotel Mulia Senayan in Central Jakarta, where the Assembly members will stay during the session.
Meanwhile, dozens of stalls, and television and radio studios have been set up in the lobby of the Assembly building.
A staffer with private television station TPI, Gunawan, disclosed that each television station is permitted to put up a 6 by 6 meter studio in the lobby for ten days.
The 2003 Annual Session will not be the last for the current crop of MPR members.
All the factions have agreed that the General Session of the Assembly next year will be held by the end of September 2004.
The General Session will listen to accountability statements from the President on the implementation of the state policy guidelines (GBHN) and from other institutions.
It will also hear the report of the constitutional commision on the progress made during its six months in existence.
The General Session will mark the end of the five-year term of Assembly members elected for the 1999-2004 period.