House likely to miss deadline for political bill endorsement
House likely to miss deadline for political bill endorsement
Kurniawan Hari, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The current snail-paced deliberations of the political party and
election bills by the House of Representatives (DPR) may disrupt
the 2004 general elections schedule already arranged by the
General Elections Commission (KPU).
The bills were expected to be endorsed by the end of the
month, but with only ten working days left before the House
retires for a one-month recess on Nov. 29, it appears the
deadline will not be met.
Even members of the special committee (Pansus) deliberating
the bills expressed pessimism on Thursday, saying the committee
would not finish its task.
"We will only finish the first phase of discussions ... we
have not started discussions in the smaller teams of the working
committee (Panja). Besides, there are several contentious issues
to discuss," committee deputy chairman Chozin Chumaidy told The
Jakarta Post.
Chozin, a legislator from the United Development Party (PPP),
said the legislators would finish deliberations in January at the
earliest.
Fellow legislator Agun Gunandjar Sudarsa of Golkar concurred,
saying a successful conclusion to debate depended on whether the
House factions could compromise.
"If each of them insists on their own proposal, the
deliberations won't be settled," Agun said.
However, committee chairman Agustin Teras Narang of the
Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan) simply
called on committee members to be optimistic.
Based on the schedule issued by the House's steering committee
(Bamus), the deliberation of the bills was supposed to be
completed by Nov. 29.
Commenting on the sluggish process of the deliberations, KPU
member Valina Singka Subekti said her commission had anticipated
the poor performance of the House.
Valina said it had rescheduled its timetable for voter
registration from January to March.
"We are a bit tolerant, but the bills should be endorsed early
next year."
She said that if the registration schedule was delayed, the
timetable for the 2004 elections would be disrupted.
She said the election commission had arranged the schedule
based on the assumption that the elections would be held in June
2004.
Valina, a political scientist with the University of
Indonesia, said registration would take place over three weeks in
March and April.
The process would be continued with data processing and public
clarification, she said. Voter registration numbers determines
the number of seats in legislative bodies.
"The schedule proceeds step by step. If one step is delayed,
the whole process will be delayed."
The commission will also scrutinize political parties early
next year to determine who can compete in the 2004 elections.