Jakarta – The state will likely suffer more than Rp 100 billion (US$9.6 million) in losses, if the House of Representatives is unable to complete its deliberation of 64 bills by the end of its term in September.
Starting its term in office in October 2004, the legislative body, through its national legislation program, targeted to pass 284 new laws, but has endorsed only 166 so far, with 64 still in process and the remaining 54 left untouched.
As in previous terms, it is very unlikely the current House will reach its target, House secretary-general Nining Indah Sari said.
The House has given top priority to 37 of the 64 bills being deliberated, but the deliberations will likely be terminated because of the unlikelihood of them being completed within the remaining three months.
The House will enter its recess period on July 3 and will resume activities on August 14 "and it will try to endorse prioritized bills. Actually, there are 64 bills currently being processed," Nining said.
All funds spent to finance the deliberation of bills would be wasted if the current House fails to pass them, because the next House would have to start from scratch.
Separately, House Speaker Agung Laksono said the cost of producing a law varied according to its scope and substance. "However, in my experience the average cost is between Rp 1.5 billion and Rp 2 billion per bill," he said.
Meanwhile, Indonesia Corruption Watch (ICW) coordinator Emerson Yuntho said if the bills are not passed the amount of state budget that would be wasted may be financially significant, but the non-financial costs would be much greater.
"The real issue is not the financial amount, but the essence of the bills," Emerson said. "For example, if the House fails to pass the Corruption Court bill, then it will discourage corruption eradication efforts. The potential to lose such an essential value cannot be measured in financial terms," he said.
Emerson said he was really confused with the House's poor legislative performance. "The government has allocated so much funding. It is very strange that legislators are not able to maximize the government's support," he said.
"In my opinion, political issues and vested interests have driven the House legislators to decline to do their jobs properly," he added.
However, Nining disagreed with Emerson's opinion that the legislators were not serious in doing their jobs.
"A number of special committees working on the bill have also submitted an official request to the House speaker to utilize the recess period to hold meetings and discussions, so they can reach their targets," she added.
Earlier, Gayus Lumbuun, a member of the special committee for the Corruption Court bill, said his committee would use the recess period to complete the deliberation of the bill.
However, Joko Susilo, a member of the special committee for the state secrecy bill, was pessimistic that his committee would be able to endorse the bill because of its controversial content. (hdt)