Lawmakers to focus more on legislation

Lawmakers to focus more on legislation

The Jakarta Post
Jakarta

Starting next year, all House of Representatives commissions will
have to submit reports on their work programs prior to a new
sitting period to keep track of their progress and performance,
House Speaker Agung Laksono said on Wednesday.

The reports, which Agung said would be made public, should
include priority issues and the target of bills to be passed to
keep each commission focused on the work and the schedules set
out.

"These targets, in my opinion, should be submitted to the
House leadership and made public at the end of a sitting period
or at least as soon as a new one kicks off, so there's a sense of
responsibility," Agung said.

He said he thought the current House members had done well in
supervising the government and debating the state budget.

"You see how tight and strict House members are in reviewing
the government's performance. And you see how tired they due to
having to stay until midnight to draft the state budget," he
said.

But the House's legislation function had not been as expected,
Agung said.

The target of passing 55 laws this year is likely to be missed
since only 12 have been passed so far. Legislators and the
government have been blaming each other for the shortfall.

The House is expected to deliberate and endorse 284 bills by
the end of its term in 2009.

Agung admitted that House members had been focusing on their
political jobs and had overlooked their legislation duties.

"In most cases we have to wait quite a long time for the
President to issue a letter delegating ministers to represent the
government in a bill deliberation," he said.

But some House members said they barely had time to deliberate
bills due to their workload of supervising the government.
Legislators are usually assigned to two or more committees that
work simultaneously to deliberate bills.

Agung said the House needed a new design for legislators' work
schedule to avoid overlapping meetings.

"A new system will make it possible for House members to
divide their time so that they can also focus on their
legislation function," he said.

The House is striving to pass 43 bills next year.