House goes on recess, fails to meet bill target
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
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Period Target Approved bills
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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
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Source: The Jakarta Post