House determined to make quality new political laws

JAKARTA (JP): Golkar legislator Abu Hasan Sazili promised on Thursday that the House of Representatives (DPR) would produce quality political laws despite the limited time available.

Abu heads the DPR's 87-strong special committee assigned to deliberate, together with the government, the three new political bills which are expected to be passed on Jan. 28, 1999.

"The time may be pressing... but we won't compromise the quality of the laws," he said after attending the closure of the current sitting session of the DPR by House Speaker Harmoko.

The committee is expected to resume deliberation of the bills on Nov. 18. The team is comprised of 52 Golkar legislators, 14 representatives from the Armed Forces (ABRI) faction, 16 from the United Development Party (PPP) faction and five from the Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI).

Sazili dismissed concerns that the Golkar-dominant committee would produce documents which would serve Golkar's political interests.

"We are putting the interests of the nation and country above all," he asserted. "We are determined to get on with the national political agenda."

The three bills -- on general elections, political parties and on the structure and function of the House, the People's consultative Assembly (MPR) and the provincial and regency legislatures -- are seen as the key to bringing the country toward greater democracy.

Despite their strategic significance, the government was late in submitting the bills to the House, Sazili said. The documents were filed on Sept. 16 and the first reading took place on Oct. 2.

According to President B.J. Habibie's political agenda, the bills should have been submitted in early September and passed in November. There was no official explanation for the delay.

A general election is scheduled for May or June next year and the MPR is expected to convene in general session to elect a new president in December 1999.

Sazili identified a number of areas where tough debates would be expected, including on the allocation of seats in the House to the Armed Forces (ABRI), on government involvement in the organization of the elections, and on the electoral system itself. Also on Friday, Harmoko said the House expected to pass the House-sponsored antimonopoly bill in December. (aan)