Shake-up expected of House leadership
Shake-up expected of House leadership
Ridwan Max Sijabat, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The House of Representatives will soon decide on whether to
approve a proposed reshuffle of its leadership and the
chairmanships of 13 House commissions, according to Speaker Agung
Laksono.
Agung said that a House plenary session was scheduled for Nov.
14 to decide on any changes.
"The solution to the issue will depend on the factions
and their own parties. If most of the factions want to revamp the
House leadership based on the principle of proportionality, then
Law No. 22/2003 on the Structure of the People's Consultative
Assembly, House of Representatives, and Provincial, Municipal and
Regental Legislatures must first be amended as it stipulates that
the (current) House leadership's term of office is five years,"
Agung said at a press conference on Monday.
If the principle of proportionality were to be applied, Agung
and House Deputy Speaker Soetardjo Soerjogoeritno would retain
their positions while Muhaimin Iskandar, a deputy representing
the National Awakening Party (PKB), and Ma'arif, representing the
Reform Star faction (FBR), would have to give their positions to
replacements nominated by the United Development Party (PPP) and
Democrat Party (PD) factions.
Agung is also deputy chairman of the Golkar Party, while
Soetardjo hails from the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle
(PDIP).
Golkar, which is chaired by Vice President Jusuf Kalla, holds
128 seats in the 550-member House, while the PDI-P holds 109
seats. Meanwhile, the PPP and PD respectively hold 58 and 55
seats, which make them the third and fourth largest parties in
the House.
The current disproportionate composition of the House
leadership was the result of the leadership election held when
the House was divided into two major coalitions last October: one
jointly led by Golkar and the PDI-P, whose chief mission was to
help the PDI-P's Megawati Soekarnoputri win the run-off in the
2004 presidential election.
But after Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono won the country's first
direct presidential election, and his Vice President Jusuf
Kalla later took the chairmanship of Golkar, the coalition broke
apart as Kalla forced Golkar to join the Susilo-led camp.
Entering the second year of the House's five-year official
term, a number of major factions have questioned the
disproportionate composition of the House leadership in an
apparent attempt to fight for strategic positions for the next
four years.
The PDI-P and PPP factions have confirmed that they would
support the proposed shake-up in the House leadership and
commission chairmanships during the plenary meeting.
PDI-P faction chairman Tjahjo Kumolo said his faction would
propose electing one more deputy to the House speaker to allow a
democratic decision-making mechanism in the House leadership.
He said that under the current structure comprising a speaker
and three deputy speakers, the decision-making process was
difficult, particularly when House leaders wanted to vote on
particular issues.
The chairman of the PPP faction, Endin Sofihara, said he was
optimistic that most factions would support the proposed
leadership reshuffle in order to refresh the legislature and help
strengthen it so that it could optimally perform its duties.
"If most factions accept the proposed principle of
proportionality, the House will spend only a number of weeks
reviewing certain chapters of the legislation, and the leadership
shake-up could be carried out by the end of this month or early
in December," he said.
In addition to deputy speakerships, the PPP and PD factions
also have their eyes on a number of commission chairmanships.