House goes on recess, fails to meet bill target

Kurniawan Hari, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The House of Representatives (DPR) will on Friday end its 38-day sitting session for a seven-week break and, as usual, will have failed to meet its legislation target.

During the opening of the session on Jan. 13, House Speaker Akbar Tandjung promised to finish deliberating 53 bills.

However, as of Thursday, an incompetent House had only endorsed 15 bills.

Many of the bills were endorsed amid poor attendance by legislators, a situation which seriously concerns political analysts and legislators themselves.

Worse still is the fact that the House has not yet identified the main problem that contributes to their poor performance.

House deputy speaker A.M. Fatwa of the National Mandate Party (PAN) blamed the increasing number of factions for extending the deliberation process.

Fatwa said that in the past there were only four factions, namely the Golkar party, the United Development Party (PPP), the Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI) and the military/police factions, so the time allocated for factions to present their views was shorter than it was now.

"We now have nine factions. Each faction is given time to present its views, extending the duration of bill deliberations."

The poor performance is not a new issue. On average, the House only endorses six bills every session, which lasts between one and two months.

Poor discipline and political bickering are just some of the reasons for the delays.

The bill on national education, for example, has not been discussed since October 2001. A similar fate has also befallen the bill on industrial dispute resolution, which has been with the House since June 2000.

The advocate bill, which was endorsed on Thursday, was presented by the government on Sept. 28, 2000.

Legislator Baharuddin Aritonang, a member of the House's Legislation Body (Baleg), also expressed regret over the poor performance.

Citing the constitutional court bill, Baharuddin said deliberations should be finished by Baleg quickly.

Unfortunately, the bill had been handed down to a special committee for deliberation and was still being discussed.

Numerous special committees set up to deliberate various bills had distracted the legislators' attention. This has been the main cause of the legislators' inability to reach a quorum.

"I think the bureaucracy doesn't help," Baharuddin said.

Legislation 2002 -2003 ---------------------------------------------------------------

Period Target Approved bills --------------------------------------------------------------- Jan.13 - March 7 53 - 10 bills on the creation of 23

regencies and 2 municipalities

- Elections

- Manpower

- Calculation of 2001 budget

- State finance

- Advocate --------------------------------------------------------------- Source: The Jakarta Post