Presidency bill 'will reduce abuse of power'

Kurniawan Hari, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Legislators and constitutional law experts have called on the President to quickly assign a minister to represent the government in the deliberation of the long-delayed presidency bill with the House of Representatives.

They said the presidency bill should be finished before the presidential election in July in order to prevent the next president from abusing his or her power.

Satya Arinanto of the University of Indonesia said the enforcement of the presidency bill would strengthen the checks and balances mechanism.

"The bill should be enforced before the presidential election, otherwise the next president will have the chance of repeating the mistakes of past presidents," he told a discussion here on Friday.

The discussion also featured legislators Zain Badjeber and Amin Said Husni of the United Development Party (PPP) and the National Awakening Party (PKB) respectively.

According to Zain, the House submitted the presidency bill to the President on Feb. 5, 2002, but until Friday President Megawati Soekarnoputri had not appointed a minister to the deliberation team.

The presidency bill, which has undergone several revisions, places a number of restrictions on the president.

Article 34, for example, bans the president and the vice president from all business activities.

The same article also restricts the president and the vice president from giving facilities and business opportunities to family members, cronies or their respective political group -- directly or indirectly.

The president and the vice president are not allowed to become involved with any social foundations either.

The bill bans the president and the vice president from receiving funds, gifts or services that can affect their policies or decisions.

The bill prohibits the president and the vice president from receiving gifts valued at more than Rp 25 million ($3,000).

Former president Soeharto has been accused of providing business concessions to his children and cronies and using social foundations to raise huge amounts of money that have never been unaccounted for.

Former president Abdurrahman Wahid was dismissed following a financial scandal in 2001, although the matter never went to court.

The bill also gives the House only 14 days to answer requests from the president for opinions regarding the appointment of ambassadors, Indonesian Military (TNI) and National Police chiefs.

The limited period aims at helping the president do his or her state duties more effectively.

Currently, the House can prolong its internal discussions before issuing recommendations to the president on certain issues, which is a waste of time and a violation of a president's duties.