Reasons why legislators couldn't care less

Reasons why legislators couldn't care less

Moch. N. Kurniawan and Yogita Tahilramani, The Jakarta Post,
Jakarta

In the past two years the public has learned to live with a
legislature with a lackadaisical attitude toward doing their job
in producing much needed laws.

An interview with two legislators shed some light on the
reasons for the legislature's low output.

Legislator Mochtar Buchori from the Indonesian Democratic
Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan) cited legislators' common
inability to set up a priority list.

Mochtar said that he had often found legislators spending
excessive amounts of time discussing unsubstantial issues in
House of Representative sessions, adding that they could waste
days simply debating over their "choice of idioms".

"Once, in a session discussing the National Education system,
legislators had heatedly debated over which terms to choose
between budi luhur or akhlak mulia, both of which mean noble
character. Finally they decided to use both terms," Mochtar told
The Jakarta Post.

It has become a common practice amongst legislators to sign
the attendance list in a House meeting, but then skip out to
attend another meeting, or some other unrelated events. Mochtar
who is also a columnist once wrote in this paper that debates in
the House seem to be conducted primarily for the benefit of
people seeking to outwit one another, or for filibustering while
awaiting the formulation of a political solution.

"Political rivalries are intense. They sometimes interfere
with the bill deliberations. It's annoying," he said.

One example pointing to political rivalry is a fact that even
as the House has put the bill on the presidency as a top priority
for deliberation in this ongoing House session, deliberations
have not begun. The bill which was initiated by the House, has
been stuck there for nearly a year and the inquiry committee set
up to work on the bill has not started working as it has to wait
for the 1945 Constitution to be amended in the People's
Legislative Assembly (MPR) Annual Session this August.

The bill should have been completed in March 2002 but was
delayed following a request from President Megawati
Soekarnoputri, who chairs PDI Perjuangan, to delay the
deliberation on grounds that the Cabinet was still assessing the
draft.

Endin A.J. Soefihara of the United Development Party (PPP)
faction said on Tuesday that some bills were difficult for all
legislators to understand, which he admitted could be one reason
why deliberation over the bills could take several months.

He cited, as an example, the deliberation over an influential
State Finance bill, stating that it could not be finished without
the completion of the amendment to the Constitution. Endin added
that lack of time to deliberate over the bills had also led to
the failure to produce new laws.

Under a new regulation at the House, legislators must finish
their supervisory function of the government by 2 p.m., to allow
them to work on their other duties, which includes deliberating
over bills. He added that legislators, most of the time, ended up
"overextending" their supervisory functions of the government,
and therefore reduced their time to debate over the bills.