Golkar won't prioritize House commission issue

Golkar won't prioritize House commission issue

JAKARTA (JP): Golkar will not push for the scaling down of the
House of Representatives' 11 commissions when the legislative
body begins deliberation on changes to internal rules this
Wednesday.

Syamsul Mu'arif, head of the dominant faction's sociopolitical
affairs department, said over the weekend that legislators could
only decide how many commissions the House should have after the
next president was elected and had named his cabinet.

"A House rule says that the number of commissions must match
that of its executive partners, so this question will be answered
after the next president announces the cabinet line-up," Syamsul
said on Saturday.

The president and vice president will be elected in a general
session of the People's Consultative Assembly next March.

The current House's term ends Sept. 30 and the new legislators
elected in the May 29 polls will be inducted to their five-year
period the following day.

Head of Golkar faction Moestahid Astari was the first to raise
the possibility of reducing the number of House commissions. It
received mixed responses, with the Indonesian Democratic Party
(PDI) and the Armed Forces factions seconding the motion and the
United Development Party (PPP) opting to wait and see.

Syamsul also chairs the House's special committee set up to
devise amendments to internal rules.

The House is apparently seeking the amendments to anticipate
legal barriers to its decision-making process after the PDI
managed to garner just 11 of the 425 contested seats in general
elections. The seats are insufficient for the PDI to appoint
representatives in regular and special House sessions.

According to current rules, representatives of all the three
parties and the Armed Forces are required for a quorum at any
sessions.

Syamsul dismissed speculation that the amendments were
prompted by the PDI's unexpected collapse.

"Each faction has long considered changes aimed at maximizing
the House function, but the PDI case makes deliberations more
complicated," he said.

He said Golkar would offer a new clarification for the quorum
required to start a session of a House commission.

"A quorum should be understood as the presence of factions
which field their representatives in a commission, given that the
PDI may be unrepresented in the commission.

"A commission should not fail to start a session merely
because a faction is missing. It is regrettable that our
democracy will lose some of its beauty, but the Indonesian people
have made their choice," he said.

He said Golkar's proposal on House rule changes also
anticipated the worst possibility that a session failed to have a
quorum because PDI legislators failed to attend, either
deliberately or for other reasons.

"We would suggest a postponement and if his doesn't work, we
will ask the head of the PDI faction to give approval to any
decision the session takes," he said.

Syamsul said Golkar was ready to help the PDI negotiate a
simplified criteria for a faction to nominate members of the
House leadership.

Current rules state that candidates for the House leadership
must receive support from at least 20 legislators. The
requirement prevents PDI from fielding its own nomination for the
House leadership board, which comprises a House Speaker and five
deputies.

Syamsul said Golkar would help the PDI meet the requirement
even if no agreement could be reached on the issue. (amd)