Haeril Halim and Tama Salim, Jakarta – As a backlash against President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo's move to delay revisions of an anticorruption law, the House of Representatives is rife with lobbying to block a government-sponsored tax amnesty bill.
The Gerindra Party, which was among the factions that rejected revisions of the 2002 Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) Law, came forward on Wednesday to support scrapping the tax bill from this year's list of priority legislation (Prolegnas).
Gerindra lawmaker Supratman Andi Atgas said his party believed that the plan to pass the piece of legislation violated "the public's sense of justice".
"The government, in this case the taxation office, must look at the potential loss of state revenues from tax noncompliance – legal measures should instead be taken," he told reporters at the House complex.
Supratman, who chairs the House's Legislation Body (Baleg), refused to consider the government's interest in the bill, insisting that lawmakers instead focus on other legislation that is in more urgent need of deliberation.
Jokowi convinced House of Representatives leaders on Monday to postpone the deliberation of the KPK Law revisions following resistance to the new provisions proposed by the ruling Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), which is also the main patron of the government.
Among the controversial amendments of the KPK Law was a plan to give the antigraft agency authority to terminate case investigations, as well as another that would take away its absolute authority over wiretapping. The proposals were seen as maneuvers to weaken the KPK, considered the country's beacon in the battle against graft.
The tax amnesty bill, which the government submitted to the House on Tuesday, was part of an agreement made between the executive and legislative bodies last year. The House said that it would agree to deliberate the tax amnesty bill on condition that the government prepare it for endorsement by lawmakers.
After Monday's delay of the KPK Law revisions, the PDI-P suggested that the tax amnesty bill should also be postponed.
PDI-P lawmaker Hendrawan Supratikno recently said that Jokowi's decision to allow for time to inform the public of the merits of the revisions should also be applied to the tax amnesty bill, for which he gave the upcoming recess period as a rough time frame, effectively postponing the bill.
"I think we aren't in a place to speak about deficits; the state should be realistic with its budget and not indulge in superfluous programs that end up becoming a burden on the people, including the tax amnesty," argued Supratman.
The tax amnesty bill is expected to pave the way for the repatriation of billions of dollars kept overseas by wealthy Indonesians, but at the cost of immunity from prosecution for possible tax crimes.
Armed with such a powerful fiscal instrument, the government would have the upper hand in haggling over this year's revised state budget (APBN-P) so that it could finally devise better-funded programs for the rest of the year.
In contrast to the situation with the tax amnesty bill, the government received another ally in rejecting the KPK Law revisions. The National Mandate Party (PAN) has jumped on the bandwagon of parties voicing the need to remove the KPK Law revisions from the Prolegnas.
PAN's House faction secretary Yandri Susanto said that the heated debate surrounding the revisions had brought more unwanted brouhaha to the legislative body, especially amid growing public dissent on the subject.
Yandri said his party was especially concerned that the ruckus might serve as a smokescreen for parties who were bent on taking advantage of the politically charged situation. "The PAN faction therefore urges both the House and the government to remove [the KPK Law revision] from the 2016 priority list, as well as from the Prolegnas," he said.
Presidential spokesman Johan Budi said that delaying the KPK Law revisions was the best thing that the President could do to comply with calls from the public. "The President is firm in rejecting current discussion over the bill because the timing is inappropriate. When it will become appropriate to discuss it, I don't know for sure," Johan told The Jakarta Post.
The spokesman also said that the government would not launch any campaign to reassure the public of the importance of the KPK Law revisions, as claimed by the House, during the delay period. Johan said that the President's decision was simply "to delay discussing the bill".