DPD pushes for legislative power
Tony Hotland, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The Regional Representatives Council (DPD) is seeking support for a constitutional amendment that would give it legislative power.
DPD Speaker Ginandjar Kartasasmita said the council had received positive support from House of Representatives members regarding its rights to participate in bill deliberations.
The council needed to have the signatures from at least one third of 678 People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) members, as stipulated in Article 37 of the amended 1945 Constitution, to hold a plenary session in a bid to pursue a further constitutional amendment.
With 128 votes already acquired from its own members, the council will need at least 100 more votes from the House members, Ginandjar said.
"And we're quite optimistic that the 100 votes are in hand. It's not formal yet, but House members showed support when we discussed the plan with them," he said after a meeting with MPR Speaker Hidayat Nurwahid on Wednesday.
The DPD, comprising 128 members, and the 550-strong House make up the Assembly.
The council has been seeking to secure a considerably greater decision making role and extra powers, which would put it on the same level as the House of Representatives, and allow its member to vote during the deliberation of bills. Currently the DPD is able to forward its recommendations to the House but has no legislative powers.
The council believes its members deserve legislative rights more than those from other legislative bodies because they were directly elected by the public, while House members were mostly party list candidates.
Ginandjar said the council planned to propose the amendment some time this year.
He recently met with Hidayat to clarify a statement by a Constitution familiarization team, which said the Assembly had no plans to amend the Constitution.
Hidayat dismissed the statement, saying possible amendments were still wide open as long as they were adequately proposed by the required number of Assembly members.
The Assembly has slashed the budget allotted for its program to familiarize members with constitutional amendments by some Rp 6 billion (US$631,578) to around Rp 13.8 billion for this year.
"We have scrapped the plan for overseas trips, and instead will have our ambassadors and representatives familiarize these amendments to Indonesians living abroad," Hidayat said.
The program would run through 2009, and is also aimed at getting feedback from the public on other important issues that needed to be included in the Constitution.
Copies of the latest amended Constitution will be distributed along with detail of regulations enacted by the Assembly regarding local administrations and schools.
The Constitution has been amended four times since 1999. The amended items included limiting a president and vice president's tenure and their authority, as well as establishing the DPD, the Constitutional Court and the Judicial Commission.
Other appended items are the holding of direct elections, and the allocation of 20 percent from the state budget for education.