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)