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