Ridwan Max Sijabat, Jakarta – As in previous sitting periods, the House of Representatives seemed to spend little time passing laws to benefit the people, and lots of time criticizing the administration.
Speaker Agung Laksono said the House has yet to give equal attention to its legislative, budgetary and oversight tasks.
Addressing the closing of the fourth sitting period at a plenary session here Friday, Agung said the House approved only 14 new bills during the three-month period, eight of which were on the formation of new regencies and municipalities.
He said the body had been too critical of the government in hearings and motions in reaction to the government's slow handling of numerous problems. "With the newly endorsed 14 bills, the House has approved 49 bills this fiscal year," he said.
The House, installed in October 2004, has endorsed a total of 76 out of 284 bills which have been given top priority for deliberation during the 2004-2009 period.
The 14 newly approved bills include one on excise taxes, limited corporations, Jakarta administration, minerals and energy, and the management of coastal areas and islets.
Agung, who chairs a team tasked to improve the House's legislative performance, said the legislature needed more help from experts and researchers.
He also said the House put more of an emphasis on quality than quantity, to prevent its products from being annulled by the Constitutional Court.
"We have formed two special committees to read the four political bills which are scheduled to be endorsed in December to give the public more participation... But, it seems impossible for us to prioritize the deliberation of two bills on land reform and forestry submitted by the Regional Representatives Council because of the rigid agenda," he said.
The use by legislators of the right to formally question, or interpellate, the government was found to be less than effective, having accomplished little more than to bring the House and the administration into conflict.
Agung, also deputy chairman of the Golkar Party, said the inquiry motion against the government's support of the UN resolution sanctioning Iran over its nuclear program was over following a recent meeting between the President and the House leadership.
"The interpellation over the slow handling of the Lapindo mudflow in Sidoarjo, East Java, is underway and its fate will be decided in a plenary session scheduled for Aug. 21," he said.
The House also criticized the defense cooperation agreement between Indonesia and Singapore. The government has been asked to renegotiate the treaty before submitting it to the House for ratification.
Besides foreign issues, the legislative body also expressed concern over separatism in Maluku, Papua and Aceh, saying the Indonesian unitary state was final and separatist conflicts had to be managed through a comprehensive approach, instead of a conventional security one.
Regarding the 2008 draft state budget, Agung said the House was pessimistic Indonesian economic growth would reach 6.5 to 6.9 percent next year, since the government has yet to give necessary attention to the development of the real sector and the slow spending of the 2007 state budget.
Agung also warned the government of the constitutional mandate to set aside 20 percent of the budget for the education sector, saying it had to seek alternative financial sources to enable it to meet the requirement in the 2008 state budget.
Executive director of the Indonesian Center for Law and Policy Studies, Bivitri Susanti, criticized the House's performance. She said the legislative paid too much attention to issues with no relevance to the actual problems faced by people.
"This is a classic story. They (the House) have never evaluated themselves, although they receive plenty of criticism and input... this indicates either they have no political will or they aren't competent to do their job," she said.