Febriamy Hutapea & Markus Junianto Sihaloho – The House of Representatives ended its mandate on Wednesday much as it did on most days during its five-year term – with hundreds of empty seats and no sense of urgency.
On its final day of business before a new legislature is sworn in today, less than 264 lawmakers appeared in the House chamber, although remarkably enough, 347 signed the attendance record at the end of the session.
The 2004-09 term saw lawmakers pass 193 bills, the final two of which came during Wednesday's plenary session. They passed the fisheries bill, which mandates the establishment of special courts to combat illegal fishing in domestic waters, as well as the 2010 state budget bill.
Outgoing House Speaker Agung Laksono acknowledged that the public's eyes were on the legislature, with significant attention from the media, which over the past five years has often criticized the House's performance, image and ethics.
He did not mention the number of former and sitting lawmakers who were arrested for corruption under his watch. But Agung did say that he hoped that new internal House rules – set to take affect when lawmakers are inaugurated today – would lead to greater efficiency and accessibility.
"So the House can perform its role and duties as real representatives of the people," said Agung, who lost his seat in the April 9 legislative elections.
The House completed 27 bills in its last session, which began this year. These bills included: the Law on the People's Consultative Assembly, House of Representatives, Regional Representatives Council and Provincial Legislative Council; the Film Law; the Narcotics Law; and the Health Law.
On Tuesday, lawmakers also finally passed the Anti-Corruption Court Law after months of delays.
Although many sneered at the House's move to push through numerous bills during its final weeks, Agung said the faster pace showed the House was serious about lawmaking.
"We also kept an eye on quality and accuracy in each bill discussion, so that judicial review requests to the Constitutional Court could be minimized," Agung said, referring to challenges to multiple laws passed by lawmakers in recent months.
Agung blamed the legislative delays on the government's lack of participation in several working meetings with House committees and commissions.
Numerous pollsters, analysts and politicians have agreed that the House's performance over the past five years had been poor. A recent survey by the Indonesian Survey Institute (LSI) showed that the majority of respondents strongly opposed any salary raises for lawmakers.
Regardless of the criticism, Agung was reflective about life after serving in the House. "The feelings are mixed – happy and sad," he said, laughing.