Long-awaited code of ethics at legislature approved

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The House of Representatives (DPR) finally approved the long- awaited code of ethics and internal regulations for legislators in a plenary session on Tuesday after being delayed due to shortcomings identified in its draft.

From of the eleven House factions, only the faction of the Love the Nation Democratic Party (PDKB) objected to the code of ethics and regulations.

After being briefed on the process of its deliberation, however, the faction, which has five members, also approved the code, but with several notes.

PDKB only initially opposed approval of the code of ethics because Article 14 of the regulations states that each faction is required to have a minimum membership of 10 persons.

G. Seto Haryanto of PDKB interrupted the session, arguing that if the regulations were approved, the faction would be forced to merge with other factions.

PDKB was forced to accept the regulations, however, after it was explained that at an earlier meeting of the commission charged with deliberating the regulations, all factions had agreed to accept them.

Manasse Malo, another PDKB member, also raised his objection to approval of the new regulations because, according to him, the session did not have a quorum due to a fall in the number of legislators attending the meeting at noon.

At 12:37 p.m., Soetardjo Soerjogoeritno closed the session, indicating that the regulations were approved.

The regulations consist of 28 chapters with 222 articles. The most prominent regulation is Article 14 regarding the minimum membership of factions, which stipulates that within three months after adopting the regulations, each faction having less than five members is required to abide by the new ruling.

Article 59 deals with the sanctioning of legislators found to have violated a regulation, including their possible dismissal from the legislature, according to Detik.com.

Article 120 to 122 deal with streamlining the deliberation of draft legislation from four stages to only two, with the first stage involving the relevant commission, legislative body, budget committee and a meeting between the special committee and the government. The second stage consists of a plenary session to enact the draft into law.