Planned bill to secure Bappenas' legal authority
Planned bill to secure Bappenas' legal authority
Dadan Wijaksana, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The National Development Planning Board (Bappenas) plans to draft
a bill on economic development that will allow it to retain its
role in drawing up the country's short and medium-term
development programs, including the annual state budget.
The plan was divulged by State Minister for National
Development Planning/Bappenas chairman Kwik Kian Gie on
Wednesday, during a meeting with House of Representatives
Commission IX for state financial affairs.
Legislators voiced support for the plan, saying the bill, when
passed into law, would provide a strong legal basis for the
continued existence of Bappenas.
"We agree on the importance of a stronger legal basis, in the
form of a law, for the national development planning system," the
chairman of Commission IX, Max Moein, said following the hearing
with Bappenas.
The recent enactment of the state finance law created
uncertainty over the fate of Bappenas. According to this new law,
Bappenas would no longer play an active role in drawing up the
government's annual state budget, with the finance ministry
taking complete control over drafting the budget.
The state finance law also stipulates that Propenas, a five-
year development program prepared by Bappenas, which in the past
has been used as the main reference point for drafting the state
budget, is no longer suitable or realistic within today's fast-
changing economic framework.
According to the state finance law, the Propenas would be
replaced by a document called the Medium-Term Expenditure
Framework (MTEF), which would be an economic guide for a three-
year period.
This raised speculation that the once-powerful Bappenas would
either be dissolved or its role drastically shrunk.
The state finance law was drafted by the finance ministry and
was approved by a special House committee, which included a
number of Commission IX lawmakers.
Sources say President Megawati Soekarnoputri did not sign the
law, but it has nevertheless come into effect because it has been
over a month since it was approved by the House.
Kwik refused to provide details of the planned law on national
economic development planning, saying that everything was still
being assessed.
During the hearing, however, while all of the legislators
supported a continued role for Bappenas, a few of the lawmakers
questioned how the agency could best be utilized in the future.
One legislator suggested that Bappenas would be much more
beneficial if it became independent instead of being part of the
government structure.
Bappenas, established 40 years ago, in the past, particularly
during the administration of president Soeharto, was a very
powerful agency as all key projects had to pass through the
office for approval.