Bagus BT Saragih – It's quality, not quantity, as the saying goes. But when it comes to the parliament's lawmaking function, it has received poor grades in both.
Take the following figures for example. Of 70 bills targeted for endorsement this year as mandated by the 2010 National Legislation Program (Prolegnas), only 20 have been completed, and there are now only four months left for it to meet this target.
The fact that most of the 20 bills passed by the House of Representatives were not urgent is an issue, but critics are more concerned about their quality, since many of these laws have been challenged by the public at the Constitutional Court within days or months after they were passed.
Since January this year the court has followed up 20 judicial review requests on six different laws and granted nine of them. Since 2003, the court has ruled on a total of 300 judicial reviews, 67 of which were granted.
The figures are a reflection on the quality of legislation, since the public evidently feel that their constitutional rights have been violated by existing laws, Constitutional Court chief Mahfud MD said Monday.
"How can a law be regarded as offending our Constitution? There must be some problems in the legislation process. Sometimes lawmakers overlook the principles of human rights and people's constitutional rights for the sake of 'democracy'," Mahfud told The Jakarta Post.
He said that the passing of laws that had been found to be unconstitutional was not always legislators' fault. "They were made so by design as a political trick," Mahfud said.
Political parties were often trapped between public interests and those of their respective party, he said. Mahfud said political interests were a normal part of parliament in democratic nations, but that these should not override human rights and the constitution.
"Parliament should know this. Otherwise people will keep filing judicial reviews with us. And if they are indeed unconstitutional, the Constitutional Court will annul them."
Indonesian Society of Parliament Monitors coordinator Sebastian Salang said the parliament's failure to produce high-quality laws had been going on for years.
"We truly regret this. Making a law costs so much in terms of state funds, time and energy. From the Constitutional Court data we can say the parliament has wasted a huge amount of taxpayers' money," he said.
Mahfud, however, said parliament was not the only party to blame. "The government, and particularly the Justice and Human Rights Ministry as the party which drafts most of the bills, is also responsible," he said.
Lawmaker Gayus Lumbuun of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) admitted that parliament could do better. "We are continually working to improve ourselves," he said.
Gayus, also a member of House Commission III on law and human rights, recommended lawmakers make use of their expert staff to help them examine bills and find loopholes. "Their contributions can be very valuable in producing good laws," he said.
Gayus said the increase in number of laws reviewed by the Constitutional Court did not necessarily mean the parliament's lawmaking performance was worsening. "It could also be because the public's awareness of the function and presence of the Constitutional Court has improved," he said.