Presidential veto of House legislation criticized

Presidential veto of House legislation criticized

Kurniawan Hari, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) has questioned a
proposal to grant the presidency the right to veto the entry into
effect of legislation passed by the House of Representatives,
arguing that the government fully participated in the
deliberation of bills before their approval by the House.

"The government is involved in the deliberation of every bill
right from the very beginning. So, why should the president be
given an additional right of veto?" asked Golkar legislator
Baharuddin Aritonang after a meeting on Thursday of the MPR's ad
hoc committee on the amendment of the Constitution.

The Constitutional Commission, which is currently engaged in
harmonizing recent amendments to the 1945 Constitution, said
earlier that it was considering proposing that the President be
granted a right of veto over legislation, similar to that enjoyed
by the presidents of many countries, including the U.S., so as to
improve the checks and balances between the executive and the
legislature.

MPR member Hobbes Sinaga from the Indonesian Democratic Party
of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan) doubted on Thursday that the
suggestion for a presidential veto was based on in-depth
research.

"I don't think commission has conducted a serious study on
this idea. Perhaps the commission is simply adopting it from the
practices in other countries," he added.

Both Baharuddin and Hobbes were members of the MPR committee
that drafted the recent amendments to the 1945 Constitution.

In an interview with The Jakarta Post on Tuesday, the
Constitutional Commission's deputy chairman, Albert Hasibuan,
revealed that commission members had agreed that the presidency
needed to be strengthened through the granting of the right to
veto bills considered to be prejudicial to the national interest.

The idea was prompted by the current legislation, which
provides that bills that have been endorsed by the House will
enter into effect within 30 days after their approval,
irrespective of whether the president has given his consent.

This provision, according to Albert, shows that the position
of the president is weaker to that of the House, making it
impossible for the checks and balances mechanisms to work
properly.

The deliberation of a bill involves the government and
provides an opportunity to the president, through the relevant
ministers, to raise objections to the bill.

Baharuddin pointed out that the Constitutional had been
established to assess and harmonize amendments to the country's
basic law, which many say are characterized by short-term
political interests. The commission has to submit regular reports
to the Assembly's ad hoc committee on the progress of its work.

According to Baharuddin, the ad hoc committee agreed on
Thursday to accept whatever recommendations the Constitutional
Commission made.

"However, we will discuss later whether to apply its
recommendations or not," he said.

The Constitutional Commission is slated to submit its first
report to the ad hoc committee members on Feb. 9. The commission
is expected to submit its final recommendations in early April.

The commission consists of 31 experts from various disciplines
who are charged with improve the quality of the Constitution.