Govt, lawmakers resume deliberation of social insurers bill

The government and lawmakers on Thursday resumed the deliberation of a bill on social insurers (BPJS) after the deliberations were stalled for more than two months.

At the beginning of the deliberation meeting, Finance Minister Agus Martowadodjo read out a list of problems in the draft that the government and lawmakers had disagreed on.

The government has stuck to its stance that the bill should rule only on the establishment of the BPJS, and not on other aspects of the 2004 Law on the National Social Security System (SJSN).

"The bill on the BPJS proposed by the House of Representatives not only stipulates the establishment of the BPJS, but also other matters [...] The government has proposed that the other matters are regulated in an amendment of the SJSN law or in other derivative regulations," Agus said.

The "other matters", the minister said, include public participation in the national social security system, dispute settlement, and criminal charges.

Presidential Instruction No.1/2010 stipulates that the draft law on the BPJS should have been passed by the end of 2010. The target was missed, however, owing to the protracted debates over the aforementioned issues, among others.

Prior to the Thursday session, lawmakers and the government had last met in February to discuss the BPJS bill.

The bill seeks to merge four state enterprises responsible for social security programs into one entity, namely the BPJS.