House faction backs DPD's plan for more authority
Kurniawan Hari, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The planned move by the Regional Representatives Council (DPD) to grant itself greater authority through a constitutional amendment has won the support of the 57-strong Democratic Party faction in the House of Representatives.
The 128-member DPD now needs to garner support from just 41 more legislators to meet the requirement for an amendment as set out in the Constitution.
Based on the Constitution, the proposal for an amendment must be submitted by at least one-third of the members of the 678- strong People's Consultative Assembly (comprised of the 550-seat House and the DPD), or equal to some 226 legislators.
"We will focus on amending articles to make the DPD equal -- in terms of authority -- with the House," said Hakim Sorimuda Pohan, deputy leader of the Democratic Party faction after a meeting with the DPD here on Wednesday.
The DPD, had been campaigning for an amendment to the Constitution even before its members were officially inaugurated in October.
At present, the Constitution states that the DPD has the authority to submit bills on regional affairs. However, they are not allowed to take part in the deliberation process.
Soon after the 128 DPD members took their oaths of office on Oct. 1, they embarked on a series of meetings and unanimously agreed to propose the amendment.
The Democratic Party faction, which was cofounded by, and nominated, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, is the first faction to express support for such an amendment.
"The DPD members must be involved in the lawmaking process because they represent the aspirations of the regions," Hakim added.
Hakim said that the deliberation of laws on the establishment of new administrative divisions must also involve the DPD members, because they were directly elected by people in each region of the country (four from each province).
He gave the example of the conflict that broke out following the establishment of West Sulawesi province. According to him, such conflicts could have been avoided if the DPD members were involved in the deliberation process.
After more than five decades since it was originally codified, the 1945 Constitution was amended for the first time in 1999. Three more series of amendments followed in 2000, 2001 and 2002.
The constitutional amendments resulted in the adoption of a bicameral legislative system with the establishment of the DPD, the members of which were elected in the April 5, 2004 general election.