House may again miss target on deliberation of bills
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.