Bill on direct gubernatorial elections to be prioritized
Kurniawan Hari, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The people will soon elect their governors, regents and mayors directly, due to the planned revision of law No. 22/1999.
Legislators in the House of Representatives (DPR) said on Monday that the revision of the Regional Administration law would be put on top of the priority list as the House of Representatives (DPR) begins its current session.
The revision, they said, would focus on providing regions with the needed legal basis to hold direct elections of governors, mayors and regents.
Currently, governors, mayors and regents are elected by the local legislative council (DPRD) members.
Members of the House's special committee (Pansus) in charge of bill deliberation unanimously appointed Teras Narang of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) on Monday to chair the deliberation process.
"Pak Teras has been appointed committee chairman and we will discuss the agenda of deliberation on Thursday," said Samuel Koto of the Reform faction.
Agun Gunandjar Sudarsa of Golkar and Ma'ruf Amien of the National Awakening Party (PKB) will be deputy chairmen of the committee.
The special committee will not revise all articles of the regional administration law, but will simply focus on the direct elections for regional leaders.
The direct elections are mandated by article 18 (4) of the newly amended constitution.
Separately, House Speaker Akbar Tandjung emphasized on Monday that the House would prioritize the deliberation of some bills to support the amended Constitution.
"As an example, we will put the presidency bill as our priority because it is mandated by the Constitution," he said after presiding over a meeting between leaders of House commissions and leaders of 14 special committees for various issues.
The crucial meeting for all House leaders, however, apparently was not interesting enough for deputy House speakers Soetardjo Soerjogoeritno of PDI Perjuangan, Muhaimin Iskandar of PKB and A.M. Fatwa of the National Mandate Party (PAN) as the three left the meeting before it ended.
Akbar explained that House members only had 123 working days to deliberate on and endorse 56 bills before they concluded their five-year terms in October.
He called on fellow lawmakers to reduce meetings with ministers or constituents so they could concentrate on the deliberation of the bills.
"We want fellow lawmakers to focus on finishing the bills and scheduling less meetings outside the House," he said.
House leaders will discuss the issues with President Megawati Soekarnoputri during a consultative meeting next week, Akbar added.
Bills on priority
No. Bills Status
1. Revisions of Law No. 22/1999 on Regional Administration Starting to deliberate
2. Establishment of Judicial Commission At State Secretariat
3. Presidency At State Secretariat
4. Revisions of the State Audit Agency (BPK) In preparation at House
5. Protection of Migrant Workers At State Secretariat
6. Procedure of Legislation In process of deliberation
7. Revisions of Law No. 7/1992 on Banking Not yet discussed
8. State Finance Audit Not yet discussed
9. The 2005 State Budget At State Secretariat
Source: House's Legislation Body (Baleg)