Lazy legislators disrupt House agenda
Lazy legislators disrupt House agenda
Kurniawan Hari, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Legislators failed on Thursday to set a schedule for their
activities, which include, among others things, the deliberation
of at least 22 crucial bills on various issues for this session.
The setback was not caused by political debate and gridlock,
but simply because of the absence of the majority of legislators
at a meeting of the Steering Committee of the House of
Representatives.
Less than half of the 76 members of the Steering Committee
were present, so they were unable to reach a quorum. No clear
reasons for their absence were made public.
Article 189 of the House internal regulations stipulates that
any meeting can go ahead and make decisions if it is attended by
more than half of the members.
The meeting was scheduled to arrange a tentative schedule of
activities for the House session that will end on March 28.
House deputy speaker Soetardjo Soerjogoeritno, who was
supposed to preside over the meeting, said that he was forced to
wait for an hour expecting more legislators to show up, but not
enough did.
"I regret this. We will send letters, urging faction leaders
to penalize their delinquent members," Soetardjo said.
After waiting for an hour, Soetardjo opened the meeting at 2
p.m. to adjourn it until Monday.
Among the subjects scheduled for discussion at the meeting was
the establishment of a Disciplinary Committee to assess the
legislators' performance and the replacement of some legislators.
House Speaker Akbar Tandjung promised during his opening
speech on Monday that the House would work hard to deliberate the
22 bills on various issues.
The delay constitutes a setback, following a commitment from
all factions made on Tuesday during a consultative meeting with
House leaders that legislators would improve discipline.
Based on the internal regulations the House revised last
October, any violation by the legislators carries a maximum
penalty of dismissal.
The meeting on Tuesday was held in response to the increasing
number of "lazy and careless" legislators who frequently avoid
House discussions for other activities.
At Tuesday's meeting, the leaders of the 10 factions agreed to
uphold an internal regulation of the House, especially to
encourage the physical presence of legislators at every meeting.
The situation on Thursday was totally different from that of
the Steering Committee on Dec. 10 last year, when legislators
discussed the establishment of an inquiry team to investigate
Akbar, who is also chairman of the Golkar Party. Only two of the
76 legislators were absent.