Abdul Khalik, Jakarta – With the legislative elections fast approaching, most House of Representatives members have begun campaigning in their respective electoral districts, leaving dozens of crucial bills untouched in Jakarta.
The House's standing session period will begin next Monday, and some 35 bills, including the crucial Corruption Court bill, military court bill and others on finance and the economy, await deliberation.
However, passage for those bills is unlikely to come anytime soon, as the House is expected to remain largely vacated, with some lawmakers predicting only a third of the 550 House members will remain in Jakarta.
Ganjar Pranowo of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) said bill committee meetings had been unable to approve bills since December last year because there were simply too few legislators present during the meetings.
"We will begin our standing session next week. But I doubt we can get quorum to make a decision in each bill meeting. Almost no one has returned from their electoral districts," he said.
The House's standing session period will last until March 20. The legislative elections are scheduled for April 9. Incumbent legislators will retain their seats until the newly-elected legislators are inaugurated in October.
However, observers have said the current tenures of the legislators will effectively end on March 20.
After that date, they said, the lawmakers will be too engrossed in the elections to concentrate on bill deliberating and they will be lame ducks in the five months leading up until October.
Harry Azhar Azis of the Golkar Party admitted there had been difficulties in passing bills ahead of the elections because the legislators were prioritizing reelection. Some legislators have reduced their activities in Jakarta to save their energy for regional campaigning.
Idrus Marham, a legislator with the Golkar Party, for example, recently resigned from his post as deputy head of special committee for a bill on composition of the House, the city council and the Regional Representative Council, to concentrate on wooing voters in South Sulawesi.
Chairman of the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) faction at the House, Mahfudz Siddiq, said some crucial bills would not be passed before October.
"The Corruption Court bill is very crucial as it will define the future of the country's fight against graft. The Constitutional Court has given us time to pass the [bill] this year. But if we continue like this, I am afraid we won't finish it," he said.
Mahfudz urged party leaders to order their members to dedicate time to deliberating bills. "We can't let the court be put under the district court. The bill should classify it as a special court outside of the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court to guarantee its independence," he said.
Ganjar said a ruling by the Constitutional Court that gives seats to candidates who win the most votes has created a free-for-all within a number of political parties.
"We are all dedicating our resources and time to win voters as none of us is guaranteed a seat. Many of us think all other matters, including bill legislation, are secondary," he said.