TheJakartaPost
Please Update your browser
Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.
Fate of Perppu remains uncertain
Old and young: The oldest member in the new House of Representatives (2014-2019), Popong Otje Djundjunan (left), and youngest member, Ade Rezki Pratama (right), lead the oath-taking ceremony in the House chamber in Jakarta on Wednesday
Change Size
O
span class="inline inline-center">Old and young: The oldest member in the new House of Representatives (2014-2019), Popong Otje Djundjunan (left), and youngest member, Ade Rezki Pratama (right), lead the oath-taking ceremony in the House chamber in Jakarta on Wednesday. All 560 representatives and 132 members of the Regional Representatives Council (DPD) took the oath to become members of the legislative bodies in the event, which cost Rp 16 billion. JP/AWO
The configuration of party coalitions in the House of Representatives will decide the fate of the government regulation in lieu of law (Perppu) on direct regional elections currently being drafted by outgoing President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.
On Tuesday, Yudhoyono announced that he would issue the Perppu to reinstate direct regional elections in the wake of public outrage over the House's move to scrap them.
However, many have said that the move merely shifts the burden to lawmakers now beginning the 2014-2019 term, which is dominated by the Red-and-White Coalition that supports the representative-based regional election mechanism.
For the Perppu to take effect, it must be endorsed by the House three months after its issuance. Yudhoyono is expected to leave office on Oct. 20.
Many in the Red-and-White Coalition said that they would reject the Perppu, reasoning that the government was not in a state of 'emergency', which they said was the condition whereby such a regulation could be issued.
'Just bring it on. We will decide later whether it is acceptable,' Gerindra Party executive and newly inaugurated lawmaker Fadli Zon said on Wednesday. 'I don't see the urgency of issuing such a Perppu.'
Chairman of the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) faction at the House, Hidayat Nur Wahid, shared Fadli's view: 'There is no emergency situation that allows [Yudhoyono] to issue a Perppu. If the President insists [on doing so], I believe the House will reject it.'
Democratic Party senior politician and former House speaker Marzuki Alie said the fate of the Perppu would depend on the alignments of the political parties.
'We have yet to see how the coalitions will shape up to be,' he said.
The Democratic Party currently controls just 61 seats in the House, while the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle-led (PDI-P) coalition holds 207 seats.
Taken together, the Democratic Party and the PDI-P-led coalition would control just 268 seats, five fewer than the 273 seats controlled by the Red-and-White Coalition comprising the Gerindra Party, the PKS, the Golkar Party, the National Mandate Party (PAN) and the United Development Party (PPP).
A coalition between the Democratic Party and the PDI-P appears to be unlikely as the leaders of the two parties have failed to reconcile past differences.
In fact, Wednesday's inauguration of the new batch of lawmakers saw tensions between the Democratic Party and the PDI-P potentially strain further, when rather than greeting Yudhoyono after the inauguration ceremony, president-elect and PDI-P member Jokowi and his security detail rushed to the exit.
Golkar Party deputy chairman and Coordinating People's Welfare Minister Agung Laksono, however, said the Perppu was devised by Yudhoyono's administration, suggesting that some of his party's lawmakers would support it.
'Although Golkar's central board has yet to discuss it, I, personally, and as a deputy chairman, view it as a solution made by the government that listened to the people's aspirations,' he said.
