Legal challenge to newly endorsed education bill

Jongker Rumthe and Yemris Fointuna, The Jakarta Post, Manado/Kupang

The national education bill is facing challenges only a day after its endorsement by the House of Representatives on Wednesday, with the North Sulawesi administration saying it will file a petition for judicial review with the Supreme Court as part of its campaign against the bill.

"We're going to file for a judicial review against the bill with the Supreme Court," North Sulawesi Governor A.J. Sondakh said on Thursday.

A group of people under the North Sulawesi Education Concern Forum will also join the motion to demand that the Supreme Court review the bill, a noted minister Yong Ohoitimur said.

Several provinces in the country, including North Sulawesi, have threatened not to implement the bill even if the House endorsed it.

Sondakh said that he would propose that the central government allow North Sulawesi to adopt a special education system.

"We will try to issue a special bylaw to do so," he said."We're serious about seeking the best solution for our people."

The North Sulawesi provincial legislature and Bitung municipal administration also agreed with Governor Sondakh.

Legislator Ruben Saerang said that all factions in the province had agreed to defy the bill.

"We decided in our general session on May 14 to reject the bill and demand a special autonomy status for our province and we will issue a special bylaw to manage our own educational affairs," he said.

Sondakh reminded the people to remain calm and refrain from any actions that would lead to violence in expressing their opposition to the bill.

The bill was endorsed in the absence of the largest faction, the Indonesian Democratic Party for Struggle (PDI Perjuangan). President Megawati Soekarnoputri has 30 days to sign the bill, but even if she fails to endorse the bill within that period, it will automatically come into effect.

But theoretically, Megawati, who chairs PDI Perjuangan, still has a chance to block the implementation of the bill by refusing to sign the necessary implementing government regulations.

The bill will need 10 government regulations for effective implementation.

East Nusa Tenggara, another province opposed to the education bill, opted to wait and see.

Spokesman for the provincial legislature Daniel Woda Palle said that the institution would not decide its stance until the government issued regulations to give effect to the law.

A number of local councillors, however, expressed their rejection of the bill.

One of the councillors, Kristo Blasin, said people in the province demanded a revision of contentious articles in the bill.

The local administration and legislature had officially expressed their rejection to the bill last month. They also had written to the President and House Speaker Akbar Tandjung but received no response.

Separately in Jakarta, Golkar faction expressed optimism that the government would be committed to implementing the education bill.

"I think Ibu Megawati listens to the call of Golkar Party, because the party will support her presidency until 2004," Golkar faction chairman Marzuki Achmad said.

Fellow legislator Anwar Arifin said the widening divide in society over the education bill was a result of misinterpretation.