House to encourage its members to initiate laws

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)