Markus Junianto Sihaloho & SP/Carlos Paath – The House of Representatives decided to postpone the passage of the highly-debated mass organizations bill on Tuesday after several political factions and human rights organizations voiced their opposition to the draft revision of the law.
"It's been temporarily delayed. That's what was agreed upon," Saleh, the secretary of the People's Conscience Party (Hanura), said on Tuesday.
The House of Representatives was scheduled to pass the bill on Tuesday, but several factions, including Hanura, the Great Indonesia Movement Party (Gerindra), the United Development Party (PPP), the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) and the National Mandate Party (PAN) demanded that the House postpone its ratification.
Saleh said that the House and the special committee assigned to the bill would meet with prominent figures from mass organizations to discuss its statutes this week. "They will be briefed on the contents of the bill," Saleh said.
The House has not decided when it will schedule its next plenary meeting to pass the bill into law.
Fahri Hamzah, a lawmaker with the PKS, said that delaying the bill's passage will provide more time for lawmakers to go over its controversial articles.
Meanwhile, Ahmad Muzani, the head of Gerindra faction at the House of Representatives, said that the postponement was requested so lawmakers could talk over the contents of the bill further with leaders of mass organizations.
"It would be a waste of time to pass the bill today only to have some mass organizations file a judicial review with the Constitutional Court to annul some of its articles," Muzani said.
Ahmad Yani, a lawmaker with the PPP, said that the special committee should work further on the draft law. "We should not rush to pass the bill. We have to check every single article. We want it to be delayed," he said.
Meanwhile, Achmad Rubaei, a member of the PAN, said that his faction wanted to delay the bill since there was still resistance to it. "A good bill should be widely supported," Rubaei said.