KPU gives House until March to endorse electoral bills

Bambang Nurbianto and Adianto P. Simamora, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The House of Representatives promised on Monday to complete the deliberation of three more crucial political bills this session as demanded by the General Elections Commission (KPU), but doubts linger as to whether the House can deliver on its promise.

When opening the new House term after a one-and-a-half-month recess, Speaker Akbar Tandjung said all the political bills should be completed by March.

However, with only 38 working days available and 53 bills on the list, many have expressed pessimism that the House will be able to complete the deliberation of the political bills.

Moreover, previous experience shows that the House has to date never finished more than 10 bills in one session.

Currently, the House has endorsed only one out of the four political bills, namely the political parties bill. One other bill is currently being deliberated, the general elections bill.

The bill on legislative structures has just been submitted to the House, but the House has not yet put it on the list of bills to be deliberated this session. And the bill on presidential elections is still with the government.

The House and the government had initially targeted the passing of the four bills by the end of last year.

KPU member Valina Sungka Subekti warned that any further delay in the passage of the bills would hamper the KPU's preparations for the 2004 general election.

"We hope that the House can approve the electoral bill by the end of this month, while the passage of the other two bills must take place no later than March.

"Otherwise, the KPU will not be able to move forward in preparing for the elections," Valina told The Jakarta Post on Monday.

According to Valina, if the bills were not ready by March, all the preparatory work, such as the verification of political parties, formation of regional election commissions, and voter registration would be pushed back from the original schedule.

The KPU has targeted the holding of the general election for June 2004 and the presidential election for August 2004 so that the country would have a new legislature, president and vice president by October 2004.

"The better the preparations we make; the better the quality of the elections," Valina said, urging both the government and the House to be serious in discussing the three outstanding political bills.

According to one legislator involved in the deliberation of the general elections bill, it was unlikely that the bill would be approved by the end of this month as demanded by the KPU.

"I don't think our special committee will be able to resolve the remaining differences on the electoral system as each party is still sticking to its guns," legislator Lukman Hakim told the Post on Monday.

The Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan) and Golkar Party factions -- the largest and second largest factions in the House respectively -- reject the government- proposed open proportional system, while the other factions mostly support the proposed system.

The committee has tried to resolve this issue through various negotiations and closed-door meetings, the latest one taking place in Bogor, West Java, last Saturday, but an agreement would appear to be still beyond reach.

Lukman said that the differences on the electoral system would not be resolved by the special committee, of which he is a member, and would likely have to go to a plenary session vote.