House to draft currency law to protect rupiah

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The House of Representatives on Thursday announced plans to draft a currency law to protect the rupiah from being speculated by the market.

House deputy chairman Tosari Widjaya said the drafting of the law was based on the country's amended 1945 Constitution, which stipulated that the national currency should be regulated with a special law.

"Currently, our currency affairs are only regulated by the central bank law. Thus, we need to form a separate law to help protect our currency from being knocked down by speculators, such as during the financial crisis in late 1997."

Tosari said the House would form a special committee to work with the government to draft the law. The committee would invite experts and officials from the central bank to discuss the draft.

During the session, the House had also decided to amend Law No. 25/1999 on fiscal balance between central and regional governments.

Tosari said the draft contained several deficiencies concerning the fiscal gap between the central and the regional governments, and the distribution of wealth between poor and rich regions.

The House also decided to postpone the approval of the treasury bill into law because there were several articles still being disputed by several parties.

However, Tosari declined to mention the disputed articles.

The bill was expected to be approved during the next plenary session on Dec. 16, he said.