DPR: Regional Governments Need to Involve Law Ministry Offices to Optimise Legal Product Harmonisation

Kupang, NTT - Deputy Chairman of Commission XIII of the Indonesian House of Representatives (DPR RI), Andreas Hugo Pareira, stated that the East Nusa Tenggara (NTT) Provincial Government needs to optimise the harmonisation of regional legal products by involving the NTT Regional Office of the Ministry of Law. He assessed that this optimisation is necessary to ensure that every regional regulation is aligned with higher statutory provisions and provides legal certainty for the community. “If there is no coordination for this harmonisation, then the regulations made could be ineffective, unimplementable, or problematic,” Andreas said during a working visit to the NTT Regional Office of the Ministry of Law in Kupang on Wednesday. He added that Commission XIII DPR RI also encourages the Ministry of Law to strengthen regulations on the formation of legislation by stipulating the obligation of harmonisation as a prerequisite before the stipulation and enactment of regional legal products. Furthermore, Commission XIII DPR RI supports strengthening the authority of the Ministry of Law in the process of enacting regional regulations and regional head regulations to realise legal certainty and regulatory harmonisation. “The provincial government and the Regional Office of the Ministry of Law have a shared responsibility in the formation of regional legal products,” he said. Head of the NTT Regional Office of the Ministry of Law, Silvester Sili Laba, stated that his office continues to encourage regional governments to optimise the harmonisation of legal products before their enactment. He noted that an inventory and review by the office revealed that NTT Provincial Regulation Number 1 of 2024 concerning Regional Taxes and Regional Levies, as well as 38 Governor Regulations of NTT throughout 2025, were not submitted for harmonisation. He said the office had sent a letter to the Governor of NTT on 31 October 2025. However, to date, there are still governor regulations that have been enacted without going through the harmonisation stage. Silvester emphasised that harmonisation is important to ensure regional legal products are aligned with higher statutory regulations, to avoid formal juridical defects, and to provide legal certainty in their implementation. He reported that from 2024 to 21 July 2026, the NTT Regional Office of the Ministry of Law had completed the harmonisation of 372 draft regional legal products, consisting of 209 draft regional regulations, 140 draft regional head regulations, and 23 draft DPRD regulations. “The entire harmonisation process was completed within one working day as an effort to accelerate the formation of quality regional legal products,” he said.