House ends tenure with pathetic record
House ends tenure with pathetic record
Kurniawan Hari, The Jakarta Post/Jakarta
Legislators elected in 1999 ended their five-year term on
Thursday, with critics giving them a fail mark, particularly in
accommodating people's aspiration during the law-making process.
The critics also said on Thursday that the legislators failed
to produce quality legislation.
Bivitri Susanti, director of the Center for Indonesian Law and
Policy Studies (PSHK), said that the legislators had produced 171
laws since they took their oath of office in 1999, including 64
laws on the formation of new regencies and provinces.
"The House can produce a big quantity of laws, however we
question the quality of those laws," Bivitri said at a discussion
here on Thursday.
She pointed to a number of laws brought to the Constitutional
Court for judicial review as proof.
Within a year of its establishment, the Constitutional Court
has examined 44 requests, 22 of which have been settled.
Constitutional law expert Saldi Isra, who also spoke at the
discussion, warned that the tendency of legislators to pursue
quantity rather than quality would create problems, namely
inconsistencies in the stipulations in different laws.
House members have been under fire for rushing to complete
the deliberation of some bills before they ended their term
on Thursday.
The controversial Indonesian Military (TNI) bill is just one
of several bills deliberated within only a month. A bill on the
creation of West Sulawesi province, the country's 33rd province,
was discussed in just two weeks.
A bill on the notarial profession was discussed and endorsed
within 15 days.
The legislators, however, have always had excuses. They said
that they had not set a target for bill deliberation, but simply
worked intensively. They often said that they had prepared the
bill for at least a year, pending the appointment of minister to
represent the executive branch of the government for the
deliberation.
Outgoing legislator Zain Badjeber who chairs the House's
Legislation Body (Baleg) acknowledged that there was poor
coordination among state offices in the law-making process.
He said he hoped there would be a single state office that
coordinated the law making process. "So far, each state
department can outline bills. I hope the government will center
the law-making process under a ministry of legislation," said
Zain of the United Development Party (PPP).
Regarding the number of laws brought to the Constitutional
Court for judicial review, Zain said that the trend had nothing
to do with the quality of those laws.
According to him, people file a request with the
Constitutional Court for judicial review with different
intentions. He said that some requests of the people for judicial
review were rejected by the Constitutional Court, meaning that
the laws were solid.