House may again miss target on deliberation of bills

Kurniawan Hari, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The House of Representatives (DPR) will again miss its target of completing the deliberation of 22 top priority bills during the ongoing parliamentary session that set to end on July 19.

With only three weeks to go, the House is, at best, likely to finish the deliberation of only five bills.

A staff with the House Secretariat, Shodiq, was unable to specify the number of bills that were likely to be completed in current session.

He, however, confirmed that the legislators would pass two bills at a plenary session next week.

"If everything goes as scheduled, two bills will be endorsed in a plenary session on July 2," Shodiq told The Jakarta Post here on Friday.

The two bills are about Child Protection, and a National System of Science and Technology.

The bill on National Education that had been approved at the commission level would also be brought to the plenary session.

Two other bills are expected to be completed just before the closing of this session on July 19.

At the opening of the current session on May 13, deputy House speaker Soetardjo Soerjogoeritno of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan) pledged to complete the deliberations of 22 bills during this session from May 13 through July 19.

In early June, the home ministry submitted the long-awaited bills on Political Parties and Elections.

Bills that are still in the process of deliberation include bills on Broadcasting, Advocacy, Property Rights, the Anti- Corruption Commission and National Education.

Legislator Akil Mochtar acknowledged that the House would not be able to complete all those bills.

Akil of the Golkar faction said his team was currently working on three bills, the Advocacy bill, the Property Rights bill, and the Anti-Corruption Commission bill.

However, the deliberations were interrupted by the examination of 43 candidates for the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM).

The examination is scheduled to finish on July 4, so legislators will only be able to resume the deliberation of more bills after that.

"We may finish the deliberation of the bills on advocacy and property rights soon," Akil told the Post.

Meanwhile, legislator Djoko Susilo who is working on the Broadcasting bill acknowledged that it was far from being complete.

"We delayed the discussion. I don't know when it will be continued," said Djoko of the Reform faction.

There has been criticism over the performance of the House in their activities. In the last session, legislators could only finish 3 of the targeted 24 bills.

Analysts said the failure of legislators to deal with, what is essentially their main function, was mainly due to their interest in political bickering and other distractions.