Margareth S. Aritonang, Jakarta – Despite public opposition, the House of Representatives (DPR) has decided to continue deliberating the national security bill and the mass organization bill, which critics say could condone state violence.
The two bills are among the 70 prioritized bills to be deliberated and completed within the next year as agreed by lawmakers during a plenary meeting marked by strident debate on Thursday.
Aside from the national security and mass organization bills, the House's plenary meeting also included several other contentious bills, such as legislation on gender equality, halal product certification and the financial system safety net (JPSK), in its list of priorities.
Speaking before the plenary meeting, chairman of the House's legislative body (Baleg), Ignatius Mulyono, also named 12 newly proposed bills, including bills on tobacco and alcoholic beverages.
"Thirty-one draft bills are currently being deliberated by lawmakers in House commissions. Meanwhile, we – the legislators and the government – are drafting 27 bills. The other 12 bills are new proposals to be drafted soon," Ignatius said.
The bills that are currently under deliberation include the halal product certification, JPSK, mass organization, national security, gender equality and indigenous groups bills and the bill combating terrorist funding.
Meanwhile, the 12 newly proposed bills – the drafts and academic papers of which have not yet been formulated – deal with tobacco, alcoholic beverages, revisions to the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) Law, marine affairs and the redenomination of the rupiah.
Ignatius' announcement, however, drew the ire of some lawmakers, who questioned the inclusion of the bills to regulate the financial system safety net and tobacco in the legislative agenda for 2013.
Lawmaker Sidarto Danusubroto of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) faction called on fellow legislators to drop the JPSK bill from the list, arguing that there was an existing regulation on the financial system security net, No. 4/2008.
Meanwhile, Sumarjati Arjoso of the Great Indonesia Movement (Gerindra) Party, also urged the removal of the tobacco bill from the House's priority list.
She suspected that the sudden inclusion of the contentious bill on the House's priority list might have been due to lobbying by the Alliance of Indonesian Tobacco Farmers (AMTI), which is said to have links to a major cigarette manufacturer.
"We suspect that the cigarette manufacturer has intentionally pushed through deliberation of the bill for its own benefit. It's unclear what the bill aims to regulate," Sumarjati said.
"If we aim to protect tobacco farmers, we can include that in a bill on farming, which we will also deliberate next year. However, if this [tobacco] bill is included for the sake of cigarette producers, it will harm poor people," she said, urging the meeting to drop the bill's deliberation.
Other lawmakers, such as Teguh Juwarno of the National Mandate Party (PAN) and Firman Subagyo of Golkar Party, shared these concerns and demanded that the House not discuss the bill.
Deputy House Speaker Taufik Kurniawan suspended the plenary meeting for around 15 minutes to allow party factions to discuss the matter before a final decision. The House finally approved continuing the deliberation of both bills next year, with several adjustments, within the respective commissions.
The House regularly sets a target of bills to be completed in its sitting session. However, on average, the lawmakers achieve less than 40 percent of their target. In 2010, of the targeted 70 bills, the House only completed deliberation of 16 bills.
List of controversial bills:
- Halal product certification bill
- Financial system safety net bill
- Mass organization bill
- National security bill
- Red Cross bill
- Gender equality bill
- Tobacco bill