Anita Rachman, Jakarta – Lawmakers defended their meager output at the House of Representatives this year, after being criticized for passing only eight bills out of the targeted 70.
Tjatur Sapto Edy, the House chairman of the National Mandate Party (PAN), said legislators had deliberately set a lofty target to encourage them to work hard.
"What if we only set a target of deliberating 20 bills? We would have met 50 percent of the target by now," Tjatur told the Jakarta Globe. "We should set our target high."
On Thursday, the Concerned Citizens for the Indonesian Legislature (Formappi), a political watchdog, gave House members failing marks in a one-year performance evaluation.
According to Formappi, the legislators, who were sworn into office on Oct. 1 last year, failed to execute almost all their duties: legislating, budgeting, monitoring and accommodating the aspirations of the people.
Formappi highlighted passing bills as one of the House's most important responsibilities, criticizing its failure to reach its ambitious target.
House Speaker Marzuki Alie, however, brushed aside Formappi's criticism, despite saying this year that the House might only be able to deliberate half of the targeted bills, or around 35 – a figure that was deemed "too big" by the watchdog at the time.
The Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) said more could have been done if lawmakers had not needed to make adjustments when new members took about 80 percent of the seats at the House.
The process of acquainting oneself with the new members takes time, according to Mahfud Siddiq, deputy secretary general of the PKS. "The House's mark is 6.5 [out of 10]," he said, giving his own assessment of the body.
Mahfud said the House would seek to improve its performance in the second year of its term, while hoping for better cooperation from House leadership and its supporting offices in order to speed up the legislative process.
Hasrul Azwar, chairman of the United Development Party (PPP), said that in budgeting and monitoring functions, the House has done a good job. As for legislation, he said, the House was still deliberating several pending bills.
Meanwhile, Ganjar Pranowo, deputy chairman of House Commission II that oversees home affairs and a lawmaker from the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), said the process was slowed because it was impossible to have a unified voice during the deliberation process.
He said he had strong doubts when the House vowed to pass 70 pieces of legislation during the first year of its term. "My expectation is only 20, and it will really be completed by the end of the year," Ganjar said.
Meanwhile, Saan Mustopha, a member of House Commission III overseeing legal affairs, said all criticism against the legislature was welcome, as long as it was based on factual data.
He also lawmakers would take the evaluation from Formappi, however negative, in stride. "We can make improvements," Saan said. "We will consider this [evaluation] as a valuable input to improve our work in the future."