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.