House completes water bill deliberation in days

House completes water bill deliberation in days

Muninggar Sri Saraswati, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The House of Representatives working committee has finished its
deliberations on the controversial water resources bill in three
days, enraging observers who say that legislators have ignored
criticism of the bill.

"The working committee has deliberated the bill, which is
currently being reviewed by the special team," chairman of the
working committee Erman Soeparno said over the weekend.

The House assigned Commission IV on infrastructure to set up a
working committee and special team to deliberate the bill, which
has sparked controversy in recent months.

The committee was tasked with deliberating the content of the
bill, while the special team has dealt mainly with the bill's
wording.

Erman, of the National Awakening Party, said that the working
committee needed just three days because it only deliberated
several articles relating to water exports, a regulatory body and
irrigation.

The committee started its deliberations on Dec. 3 and
completed them on Dec. 5, while the special team is expected to
finish its job on Monday.

Erman said that after the deliberations, the bill will be sent
to a plenary meeting for approval on Dec. 19.

Meanwhile, fellow legislators Erwin Pardede and Karimun, both
of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle, anticipated no
significant changes at the plenary.

"Legislators on the working committee are representatives of
factions," Karimun said.

Erwin added that the faction meeting would likely not make any
changes because most legislators agreed with the bill.

Separately, observers lashed out at the House for ignoring
public opposition to the bill, which, they say, had many
controversial articles.

"I'm very disappointed. They (the legislators) haven't changed
even a word, although they sought our responses," said Budi
Wignyosukarto from Gadjah Mada University.

He regretted that the House and government offer to discuss
the bill with the public was only a token gesture.

"I haven't seen any goodwill from legislators. They don't
care about the future of the country. This is about water --
something every human being needs," Budi said in disappointment.

Instead of listening to public criticism of the bill, Budi
said, some legislators used the discussion with farmers and
others for political purposes.

"They acted as if they were listening, but I heard they told
farmers not to vote for parties that did not favor their
interests," Budi said.

Nila Ardhiani, of the Indonesia Forum on Globalization
(Infog), shared the same opinion as Budi, saying the House had
failed to listen to public criticism of the bill during a series
of discussions held with people across the country.

Environmentalists, experts and non-governmental organizations
have repeatedly criticized the bill for treating water as an
economic rather than social commodity.

The House earlier asked the working committee to postpone
deliberations on the bill due to public opposition concerning the
commercialization of the water sector, ordering the committee to
carry out more public participation during the delay.

The House has, since then, conducted a series of roadshows
across the country. The Ministry of Settlement and Regional
Infrastructure, which strongly supported deliberations on the
bill, even took two full pages in Kompas daily, the most widely
read newspaper in Indonesia, to publish all 96 articles of the
bill.

In the advertisement, it asked readers to send their input to
the ministry. Ultimately, only three readers responded to the
call.

Many have alleged that the hasty deliberations on the bill are
connected with the last disbursement of a US$300 million loan,
under the World Bank-sponsored Water Resources Sector Adjustment
Loan (WATSAL).

Based on the WATSAL scheme, the World Bank will disburse the
loan in three stages. The first $50 million was disbursed in June
1999 and the second disbursement, amounting to $100 million?, was
made at the end of 2001.

The remaining $150 million will be disbursed once Indonesia
completes its water reform initiative, which includes the
enforcement of a water resources law that allows for
privatization of the water sector.

The World Bank has indicated that it may not disburse the
third and last tranche of WATSAL due to possible failure by
Indonesia to produce a bill on water resources that met a 1999
commitment on water resources policy reform.

The government made a commitment with the World Bank on WATSAL
in 1999, when the government faced severe financial difficulties
due to the prolonged economic crisis.

According to the scheme, Indonesia had to reform its
legislation on water to allow for its privatization.

The World Bank has denied accusations over its possible
involvement in proposals to bring in huge foreign water companies
to invest in the nation's water supply sector.