House's debate on oil bill goes on

JAKARTA (JP): The House of Representatives and the government continued debating an oil and gas bill despite a call from activists for the cancellation of the talks.

Legislator Priyo Budi Santoso, a member of the House's special team for the deliberation of the bill, said on Tuesday the House and the government had no intention to cancel the debates, and dismissed the call as "irrational and unconstitutional".

"If the House cancels the debates on the oil and gas bill and other bills, the legislators will have no activities until the end of term (in late August). Do people want the legislators to spend time sleeping while waiting for retirement?

"Under the constitution, the House is not allowed to have no activities," Priyo said.

A coalition of 125 non-governmental organizations staged a demonstration on Monday at the House and the Ministry of Forestry and Plantations to demand the cancellation of the debates on the oil and gas and forestry bills.

The House and the government are debating the oil and gas bill and plan to debate the forestry bill later this week.

The activists said debating the bills on extremely tight schedules would prompt legislators to overlook limitations.

They called on the House to allow new House members elected during the June 7 general election to do the job. The new legislators will start term in September.

Priyo dismissed speculations that the legislators were forcing themselves to approve the oil and gas bill or the government pushed them to approve the bill during the current legislative term.

"We just work as usual, free of pressure. There is no problem. But, the fact is that both the House and the government are really committed to finishing the debates on the bills by July 29," he said.

Priyo noted the House has no ambition to approve the bill during the current legislative term, adding the newly elected legislators would resume the debates if they weren't completed.

"The new legislators may reject the results of the current debates and restart them from zero, or they may accept the results of the current debates and go ahead examining the points which have not been debated," Priyo said.

Disagreement

In a related development, Minister of Mines and Energy Kuntoro Mangkusubroto said on Tuesday that thus far the debates had run well despite the fact that the House and the government were still at odds on several issues.

He said the points at issue included the right to award oil and gas contracts and the type of contract.

Kuntoro said under the constitution, the right to award oil and gas contracts lies with the nation.

Under the current oil and gas law, the nation delegates the right to state oil and gas company Pertamina.

Under the bill, Kuntoro said, the government would take over the right and exercise it by itself.

However, he said, some legislators were still opposed to the idea, arguing that by awarding contracts to oil and gas companies, the government is doing business with them -- which is unacceptable to the legislators. As such, the legislators proposed the government delegate the contract-awarding right to a state company, be it Pertamina or others.

Kuntoro, however, argued that awarding contracts was different from doing business.

"What is business? Awarding a contract is not business. Business is making a transaction, making deals and such," Kuntoro told reporters, adding the government would not compromise with the House on the issue.

He said in the past, state companies, including state coal company PT Bukit Asam and tin company PT Timah, also controlled the contract-awarding rights in their respective business sectors but the government later took over the rights.

Regarding the type of contract, Kuntoro said, the legislators demanded that the law explicitly stipulate that the production sharing contract (PSC) system is mandatory for all oil and gas contractors.

However, Kuntoro said, the government still preferred using the generic term of cooperation contract in the law.

"The government thus far has no intention to change the current PSC system as long as it is good for the country but the law should be open to innovations in the oil and gas contract system over the next 30 years," Kuntoro argued.(jsk)