Priority bills includes pacts on antiterrorism

Priority bills includes pacts on antiterrorism

Kurniawan Hari, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The House of Representatives (DPR) said on Monday it planned to
deliberate 55 bills this year, including three bills on the
ratification of an international convention to suppress terrorism
and transnational crimes.

However, the ability of the lawmakers to meet their
legislation targets, observers say, much depends on the
availability of budget funds and the capabilities of their expert
advisors.

The three conventions up for ratification are the
International Convention for the Suppression of the Financing of
Terrorism, the International Convention for the Suppression of
Terrorist Bombings, and the United Nations Convention Against
Transnational Organized Crime.

Although the legislative program has been discussed during the
past three months, several legislators still protested the
exclusion of some bills from the list.

Soekartono Hadiwarsito of the Democratic Party suggested that
the legislators should also include bills on oil and gas and
electricity on this year's priority list.

"The two bills should be prioritized because they are
important," he said at a plenary meeting presided over by House
deputy speaker Zaenal Ma'arif.

Fellow legislator Suryama M. Sastra of the Prosperous Justice
Party (PKS) also questioned the exclusion of the bill on state
intelligence agencies from the list.

He suggested the intelligence bill should be deliberated
simultaneously with the bills on freedom of information and state
secrecy, which have been given priority.

Suryama said a simultaneous deliberation of the three bills
would reduce possible conflicting articles in the three related
laws.

Zaenal reminded the House that legislators or the government
could still propose other bills for urgency.

In his speech, chairman of the House's Legislation Body
(Baleg) Muhammad AS Hikam said that the House's approval of the
National Legislation Program (Prolegnas) would be a reference for
the legislators in the law-making process.

The 55 bills set to be deliberated in 2005 were part of 284
bills to be tabled for deliberation during the 2005-2009 period,
Hikam said.

Some of these bill, however, could be merged into one to avoid
unnecessary duplication and faster deliberation, he said, citing
specifically the bills on the presidency, the presidential
advisory board, and on the Cabinet.

House bills are prioritized if they are left over from the
1999-2004 period, function as supplementary regulations, relate
to other existing laws or are linked to the ratification of
international conventions.

Separately, the Ministry of Justice and Human Rights legal
representative Abdulgani Abdullah said the revision of the
Criminal Code would be among the 55 prioritized bills.

"The Criminal Code consists of more than 700 articles,
therefore deliberations about its revision should be started as
soon as possible. They could take three years to finish," he
said.

Legislators are also set to deliberate bills on immigration,
citizenship, the religious courts, and the protection of
witnesses.