House off to a quiet start after noisy polls

The Jakarta Post ,  JAKARTA   |  Tue, 04/14/2009 12:19 PM  |  National

Monday’s plenary session of the House of Representatives was characterized by empty seats as politicians picked up where they left off more than one month ago after reelection campaigning.

The House secretariat registered just 190 of 550 lawmakers in attendance, although in reality, many of those on the registry were not present. The session was postponed for 10 minutes to wait for more House members.

The session marked a start to the House’s new sitting period, which will last until July 12. The lawmakers were fresh from a hectic election trail, which took them to their respective electoral districts to woo support from constituents.

Observers have predicted that many of the current legislators will lose their seats to newcomers after the Constitutional Court mandated an election system which allocates House seats to candidates who win the most votes. Under the old system, connection to party leaders played a pivotal role in the election of lawmakers.

The General Elections Commission will announce 560 members of the House for 2009-2014 period on May 9.

A speech by House Speaker Agung Laksono was the only item on the agenda of Monday’s session.

Agung called on the lawmakers to carry out their legislation duties until the end of their term in office on Sept. 30, despite their possible exit from the powerful body.

“There are many constitutional jobs in waiting. No matter if you are re-elected or not, we have to finish the duties,” Agung, who may be among the politicians soon to be looking for another job, according to a quick count conducted by the Indonesian Survey Institute, said.

He asked the lawmakers and all House commissions and bodies to prepare their final reports, which they would have to provide to the incoming legislators.

“Administrative procedures related to the retirement of House members must be settled as soon as possible as well,” Agung said.

During the 59 days left of the current House sitting period, 38 priority bills will be deliberated including a key draft law on the composition of the House, the Regional Representatives Council, People’s Consultative Assembly and regional legislatures, the corruption court bill and the health bill.

The Constitutional Court has set a deadline of Dec. 19 for the House and the government to approve the bill on the corruption court, which will replace the ad-hoc corruption court in place since 2004.

“We the House leaders encourage all the lawmakers involved in the deliberation of the bill to show commitment to corruption eradication in the country by finishing the draft law before the deadline,” Agung said.

As many as nine House lawmakers have been arrested and sentenced for corruption in the past year.

National Mandate Party politician Abdul Hadi Djamal, who is accused of accepting bribes related to the development of marine and aerial facilities in East Indonesia is just the latest suspect.

The case implicates other lawmakers who are members of the House’s Commission V overseeing transportation affairs.

Agung acknowledged that the bribery scandals had severely tainted the House’s image. The role of House Disciplinary Council, he added, will be crucial to restoring public confidence in the legislative body.

”The council’s response to the graft cases implicating House members are all that the public are looking forward to seeing,” Agung said.

An arm of Transparency International has found in its regular surveys that the House is the state body most vulnerable to graft.

Priority Bills

1. Composition of the House, the Regional Representatives Council, People’s Consultative Assembly and regional legislatures
2. Corruption Court
3. Health
4. State medals
5. State secrets
6. Public services

Source: House of Representatives

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