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Comments: `Lazy' House unlikely to pass 22 bills
The House of Representatives has three weeks to pass their target of 22 priority bills, but legislators are apparently unable to even show up to deliberate the potential laws
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em>The House of Representatives has three weeks to pass their target of 22 priority bills, but legislators are apparently unable to even show up to deliberate the potential laws.
For example, a planned meeting that was supposed to discuss four bills related to the judicial system - the judiciary power bill, the general judicial system bill, the religious judicial system bill and the state administration judicial system bill - had to be canceled Monday because most members of a working committee deliberating the bills failed to show up.
Your comments
Isn't there a problem of legitimacy here? In parliamentary democracies that I know, a parliament is dissolved, an election is held, and the newly elected representatives convene to take the place of the old ones.
In Indonesia's hybrid system, legislators proven to have no public support continue to sit for six months after losing the elections.
This means they can pass all kinds of corrupt, self-serving and retrogressive legislation, for example by destroying the KPK (anticorruption commission) or by making government corruption a state secret, without any fear of being held accountable by the people.
John Hargreaves
Jakarta
Batik for world heritage list -- Sept. 8, p.4
Indonesians have been asked to wear batik on Oct. 2, following UNESCO's decision to add the traditional dyeing technique to its Intangible Cultural Heritage list.
The listing, which will give the age-old batik tradition some degree of protection under the UNESCO charter, will be made official at an event in Abu Dhabi, the United Arab Emirates, between Sep. 28 and Oct. 2.
To acknowledge the listing, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has asked all Indonesians to wear batik.
Your comments:
Great news! Hopefully now I'll be able to wear batik casual dress without hearing anyone making a comment such as, "Daster kok dipake di mall?" (How could you wear a smock at a mall?).
Fransisca
Sydney
Bravo, Indonesia! Batik belongs to us, no doubt!
Emma Holiza
Jakarta
It is often not recognized that the "white" man still roamed the pine forests in Europe at the time India, Indonesia and China had already progressed so far and refined their cultures for thousands of years. Not only batik, but also woodcarving, stone buildings, etc.
Because of the humid climate, many ancient buildings have disappeared. I do hope the real batik is not going to disappear because of the cheap fabric processes now. A real batik should really be preserved for special occasions, just as the processes to prepare the hide of a specially chosen young cow to make a wayang (leather puppet) figure.
I am very proud of my wayang bought in Yogyakarta from the artists at the yard of the Budaya Museum. I have a large Gunungan. The reverse side shows me everything in my nature that has to be changed and refined in order to enter the gates of heaven as shown on the front.
Maria Kramers
Jakarta
