Dylan Amirio, Jakarta – The House of Representatives wrapped up its fourth sitting period for 2015 on Tuesday with none of its scheduled bills being passed into law over the past six weeks.

The House held a plenary session on Tuesday to officially end its sitting period by merely announcing that its members would continue deliberating the 2016 state budget.

House Legislative body (Baleg) deputy chairman Firman Soebagyo said that some of the reasons the House was unable to pass any bills this period was the fact that lawmakers were still adjusting to their first year in office.

He also mentioned that the House suffered bureaucratic setbacks in working on the draft for the constituency funds program, which he claimed had taken more time than it should have, ultimately taking time away from the drafting of other bills.

"I've told the House speakers that in 2016 we will invite experts and academics to help us draft the bills quicker. That way it will improve the quality of the laws we make and hopefully it will be better for the public too," Firman, who is a member of the Golkar Party, told The Jakarta Post on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, in his concluding speech during the House's final plenary meeting for the period, House Speaker Setya Novanto said that on the issue of legislation, lawmakers had mostly spent their time on finishing making the three scheduled bills congruous.

The three bills are the public housing bill, the financial security bill and the controversial alcohol prohibition bill, which the House previously said would be subject to change before it was endorsed.

Separately, Baleg chairperson Sareh Wiyono said that about 10 draft bills would be discussed during the House's fifth sitting period of 2015, which would begin on Aug. 14, along with an additional four draft bills proposed by the government.

"The House currently has another six that are being made congruous. They are scheduled to be passed by the end of this year," the Gerindra Party lawmaker told reporters on Tuesday.

Regarding the House's previous target of passing 37 bills by the end of the year, Sareh said the deadline would most likely be extended to 2016.

During the fourth sitting period, the House paid more attention to the constituency funds proposal and the proposed revision of the 2015 Local Elections Law than deliberating scheduled bills.

Despite objections from the public and the government, the House insisted on proposing the granting of Rp 20 billion (US$1.5 million) annually in constituency funds to each lawmaker to develop their own electoral district.

From the 159 bills included in the 2015-2019 National Legislation Program (Prolegnas), 37 are on the priority deliberation list, which lawmakers and the government are targeting to complete by December.

Lawmakers so far have only passed two bills on the priority list: one on regional elections and the other on regional administrations. Baleg has set a target for each of the 11 House commissions to focus only on deliberating two bills every year.

Political infighting has also been blamed for the lackluster performance. Having commenced their tenure in October 2014, lawmakers have not been able to carry out their main roles in legislation, budgeting and monitoring effectively as a result of a political struggle between the ruling Great Indonesia Coalition and the opposition Red-and-White Coalition.

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2015/07/08/house-performance-lackluster-yet-again.html