Legislators upbeat on manpower bill deadline

JAKARTA (JP): All four factions of the House of Representatives are confident that deliberation of the manpower bill will be completed by the Sept. 15 deadline.

Time however is fast running out because by yesterday only 64 of 545 contentious issues had been covered by the House's special committee to discuss the bill.

On top of this, the House will go into recess Friday and will only resume its activities on Aug. 16.

F.X. Soejitno of the Armed Forces faction detected strong enthusiasm among committee members to finish deliberating the bill as properly as possible.

"We will work around the clock if we have to," Soejitno told The Jakarta Post.

Deliberation of the bill, submitted by the government early this year, was postponed in April before the election because of controversy over some of its articles. Deliberation only resumed last month.

Labor organizations are still protesting the bill which they said would infringe workers' rights if it was passed in its present form. The government said the bill was meant to strengthen workers' rights.

The House is under pressure to finish deliberating all remaining bills before it ends its five-year sitting on Sept. 30. New representatives, elected in May, will be installed on Oct. 1.

Iskandar Mandji of the dominant Golkar faction said he was optimistic that deliberation of the manpower bill would end on time.

"It may seem a tough discussion, but we all (the factions) share the principle that a worker should be placed in a respected position," he said.

Iskandar said that despite the deadline, the committee was giving a serious and thorough reading of the bill.

There was a heated debate Tuesday among members of the special committee when the Golkar faction insisted on the inclusion of the word "partnership" between the government, employers and workers in Pancasila industrial relations.

Golkar was also insisting on the term equality between the three parties, Iskandar said.

Amru Almu'tasyim of the United Development Party faction said the main thing was that House members could agree on crucial issues such as unionism, strikes, employment terminations and a dispute settlement mechanism.

"Then, the bill would be completed on time," Amru said.

Tiop Harun Sitorus of the Indonesian Democratic Party faction said completing the bill on time also depended on the government's attitude.

"The government should be accommodative in order to finalize the bill's deliberation," Tiop said. (10)