With New Year's Day less than two weeks away, the House of Representatives went to a monthlong recess Friday after a sitting period of just 25 days.
But the House lawmakers could hold their heads high as they packed their bags for their year-end holiday, because they managed to pass 14 bills during the short sitting spell -- an average of one bill every two days -- including the controversial bill on the Supreme Court, which was passed on Thursday.
On the last sitting day of the year on Friday, the House endorsed two bills on the formation of Maybrat regency in West Papua and of Meranti regency in Riau.
Despite the election year, which will force the politicians to divert much of their time to the legislative and presidential elections, the House plans to debate 35 bills in the final nine months of its term, which ends in September.
House Speaker Agung Laksono said the priority would be given to the bill on the Corruption Court, the revision of the election law, the draft Criminal Code, the bill on natural resources and the bill on government administration.
Skepticism about House politicians' commitment to their legislation duties has been rife in the lead-up to the legislative election in April 2009, as many will be seeking another five-year term.
Agung said the lawmakers were aware of the public's criticism of their legislative performance.
"The public is not the only party that is dissatisfied with the performance of the House in conducting its legislation jobs," Agung said. "We are more disappointed with our performance than the people are."
He said the leaders of the House had taken various measures to help individual lawmakers improve their capacity, including by providing more expert staff.
Empowerment of lawmakers will also be pursued through deliberation of the bill on the composition of the House, the People's Consultative Assembly and the Regional Representative Council. -- JP/Irawaty Wardany
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