'Power law must be annualled'

'Power law must be annualled'

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

A coalition of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) filed a
petition with the Supreme Court on Monday to annul the 2001
electricity law.

The coalition said the law must be annulled because it
violates the spirit of the 1945 Constitution.

The NGOs also said the law was invalid because the House of
Representative failed to meet a quorum at the plenary session in
which the law was endorsed in September 2001.

The coalition consists of the Association of Legal Advisers
and Human Rights in Indonesia (APHI), the Indonesian Legal Aid
Foundation (PBHI) and the 324 Foundation.

Dorma Sinaga, the chairman of APHI, said the electricity law
"grossly" violated the spirit of the Constitution by endorsing
free-fight competition in the country's electricity sector.

According to him, the Constitution rules that the electricity
sector is public property. As such, it must be controlled by the
government for the maximum benefit of the people and should not
fall into private hands.

According to the coalition, the endorsement of the law was
invalid because only 248 House members attended the session to
endorse the law. According to the House's internal rules, an
endorsement is only considered valid if a session is attended by
more than half of all House members.

At the time of the endorsement, there were 500 members of the
House.