House to encourage its members to initiate laws

JAKARTA (JP): The new House of Representatives (DPR) will be expected to play a more active role in making legislation, House Speaker Harmoko said yesterday.

He said that he and other House leaders had agreed to encourage fellow legislators to initiate legislation.

"Insya Allah, or God willing, we (House leaders) will encourage legislators to use their Initiative Rights," he said in a surprise visit to the House's Press Room.

Harmoko, who is also chairman of the dominant Golkar, admitted that House legislators have never exercised such initiative rights in the past.

"The initiative to propose a bill used to come from the government," he said.

The 1945 Constitution stipulates that legislative initiatives can come either from the government or the House. The constitution also stipulates that the House and the President will jointly approve legislation.

Harmoko pledged that he would put all his efforts into improving the quality of the legislative body.

Asked about how the new House would deal with the backlog of bills that accumulated toward the end of the previous House term, Harmoko said the House would reschedule meetings of House working committees.

Legislators of the previous House had to work overtime during the last days of their term to deal with all the bills before it.

Harmoko, in a bid to improve the House-government partnership in dealing with state matters, called on the government to implement every House recommendation, usually issued at the end of every hearing.

"Every House recommendation is a binding agreement. The House will continuously question the government until it carries out the recommendation," he said.

Some political observers have called the hearings with the government useless, saying that none of the recommendations have been executed by the government.

Harmoko said the press should be encouraged to make use of the House as a "fertile" source of information.

"A lot of House legislators are newsworthy as they are smart, able to express their opinions and ideas attractively and are competent," he said.

Harmoko, former minister of information for three consecutive terms, said that journalists would be given the freedom to cover House activities.

"It will be interesting for the public if all arguments in an open House hearing can appear in the newspapers and on television," he said.

"And I am sure that the government would like such exposure, particularly when it is coupled with solutions to problems," he added.

The Indonesian press has often been criticized for its lopsided coverage of the House. For instance, it has been accused of reporting only the statements of government officials during hearings and neglecting those of the legislators.

Commissions

Chairman of the United Development Party (PPP) House faction, Hamzah Haz, announced the party's lineup in the House's eight commissions and two agencies yesterday.

"Our legislators will chair two House Commissions and one agency -- Commission I, Commission VII and the Internal House Affairs Commission," he told reporters.

Hamzah said Aisyah Aminy will chair Commission I for security and defense, legal and information affairs; Zarkasih Nur will chair Commission VII for education, religious and youth and sports affairs, the National Institute of Science, the National Library and the National Atomic Agency and Soelaiman Biyahimo will chair the Internal House Affairs Agency.

Hamzah also named legislators who will be deputies to the chairpersons of the remaining seven commissions.

Golkar legislators will chair Commission III for agriculture, forestry, transmigration and food affairs; Commission IV for public works, transportation, post and telecommunications, public housing and the National Aviation and Aeronautical Institute; Commission V for industry, mining, trade, manpower, cooperatives and the environment; Commission VI for health, social affairs, women's affairs and family planning; and the Inter-parliamentary Cooperation Agency.

The Armed Forces legislators will chair Commission II for domestic and foreign political affairs, State Secretariat, public administration and the Coordinating Agency for Pancasila Course; and Commission VIII for state finance and budgeting, national development planning, research and technology and other non- governmental institutions. (imn)