Sluggish Advances in Legislative Process

 
Marcell Sihombing, Rofiq Hidayat
 
Nearly a year after lawmakers took their oath of office, the parliament is yet to pass a single bill. Despite the 2015 National Legislation Program (Prolegnas) listing 37 prioritized draft bills, none of these has advanced to a plennary meeting (rapat paripurna). In order to accelerate matters, the government is requested to issue of a Presidential Directive on Acceleration of Legislation Drafting Processes.
 
“A Presidential Directive should be issued to accelerate ongoing discussions on draft bills,” said Agus Hermanto, Deputy Speaker of the House in Jakarta on Tuesday.
 
The slow legislative process is not only due to the parliament’s performance, for which the House has five recess periods. The government’s internal circumstances and actions have also led to the current situation, including the government proposing several draft bills without an academic draft. Mr. Hermanto is hoping the government willimmediately submit the draft bills that fall under the “government’s initiative” category.
 
Lawmaker Ade Komarudin (Commission XI) commentedthat the slow progressis being caused by both the House and the government. The House continues to insist on waiting for the government to submit draft bills accompanied by anacademic draft.
 
Mr. Komarudin also said that there are many draft bills to be discussed with Commission IX on which he sits. To progress matters thegovernment needs tofile the draft billssoon so their interrelated content can be harmonized.
 
“Whether it is the Draft Bill on Financial System Safety Net, Draft Bill on Bank of Indonesia, Draft Bill on Banking, all of them are intertwined with one another,” Mr. Komarudin said.
 
In line with Mr. Komarudin, Deputy Chairman of Commission III Benny K. Harman commentedthat his Commission needs to revise several laws on law enforcement. Unfortunately, the government is yet to submit the draft bills. According to him, as the House is the lawmaker, it should be the government who proposes draft bills, not the House.
 
“Politically, it is the government who proposes laws, as the party that understands political conditions and policies. The President’s vision and mission after induction must be cast into draft bills,” explained Mr. Harman.
 
Mr. Harman took the example of the Draft Bill on the Criminal Code (RKUHP) that is yet to be submitted by the government. Yasonna Laoly, the Minister of Law and Human Rights, explained that the RKUHP is at the State Secretariat and ready to be submitted. However, Commission III has no tyet received all the necessary documents.
 
(hot/kc)