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After House truce, new row erupts over details
Peace deal: Leaders of the Great Indonesia Coalition and Red-and-White Coalition â Pramono Agung (second left) and Hatta Rajasa (second right) â sign an agreement at the House of Representatives in Jakarta on Monday, while House speaker Setya Novanto (center, behind) and other House leaders look on
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span class="caption">Peace deal: Leaders of the Great Indonesia Coalition and Red-and-White Coalition ' Pramono Agung (second left) and Hatta Rajasa (second right) ' sign an agreement at the House of Representatives in Jakarta on Monday, while House speaker Setya Novanto (center, behind) and other House leaders look on. Both sides agreed on Monday on the composition of the leadership of House commissions and to remove controversial clauses from the Legislative Institutions (MD3) Law. JP/Awo
After signing an agreement to end weeks of discord at the House of Representatives, politicians have started another row about how the pact should be carried out.
The agreement, signed by leaders of the political factions within the ruling Great Indonesia Coalition and the opposition Red-and-White Coalition on Monday, consisted of five points that will result in revisions to the 2014 Legislative Institutions (MD3) Law that regulates distribution of power among the political factions in the House, as well partnership with the government.
The negotiator representing the Great Indonesia Coalition, Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle's (PDI-P) senior politician Pramono Anung Wibowo, said members of the coalition would attend a plenary meeting slated for Tuesday, during which they would present their lineup for commission heads and members assigned to deliberate such revisions to the Legislation Body (Baleg).
'[We] will submit the lineups for [House] commissions after the revisions are completed,' Pramono told reporters on the sidelines of the signing ceremony.
Pramono, a former House deputy speaker in the previous House term, wanted to make sure the deals were guaranteed first, stressing that the Great Indonesia Coalition would only present a lineup of lawmakers assigned to each internal body after the revisions.
Such a move is also seen as an effort to prevent the Red-and-White Coalition, which secured the majority of House seats, from taking full control of power through voting sessions during meetings of the internal bodies, as was reflected by the controversial selections of the chairmanships of the House's commissions last month.
During the selection process, the House leaders, who were all from the Red-and-White Coalition, insisted on proceeding with the selection in spite of the absence of all the lawmakers from the five factions within the Great Indonesia Coalition ' the PDI-P, the National Awakening Party (PKB), the NasDem Party, the United Development Party (PPP) and the Hanura Party ' following the questionable submission of the PPP's lineup by several senior members who were opposed to the current official faction leadership.
Upholding a House internal regulation that required the presence of at least half of all lawmakers from at least six factions in order to sanction any decisions, House leaders included the PPP faction during the process although its lawmakers refused to attend any meetings.
Contrary to Pramono's stance, the leader of the NasDem faction, Viktor Bungtilu Laiskodat, rejected the need to wait for the House to deliver on the agreed revisions before submitting their full lineup list, saying NasDem would submit its lineup for all of the House's internal bodies and not only for the Baleg.
'There is no need to suspect each other,' said Viktor, adding, 'Thus we will submit the complete lineups tomorrow.'
Senior members from within the Red-and-White Coalition expressed different views on the matter.
The House deputy speaker from the Gerindra Party, Fadli Zon, reiterated that the sealed agreement obliged members of the rival Great Indonesia Coalition to provide lists of lawmakers for all bodies before the other points of the deal could be acted upon.
'It will be difficult [to revise the MD3 Law and the internal regulation] if they [the Great Indonesia Coalition] only submit the lineup for the Baleg. They must submit a lineup for all internal bodies,' Fadli said.
However, Fadli's statement contradicted that of the deputy speaker from PAN, Taufik Kurniawan, who said, 'The lineup for the Baleg is the most important [...] Others can follow after that.'
The pact also maintains that all revisions should be made before Dec. 5.
Points of the House peace agreement:
' Agree to immediately assign members of the factions (within the Great Indonesia Coalition) to the 11 commissions, four bodies and one Ethics Council.
' In order to anticipate work loads, as well as to adjust to the change adopted by the Joko Widodo-Jusuf Kalla Working Cabinet, agree to add one deputy chairman to each of the 16 internal bodies that would be made through revising related articles of the MD3 Law and the House's 2014 internal regulation.
' Agree to immediately install Great Indonesia lawmakers in the available leadership posts within the House's Budgetary Board (Banggar) and the House's Ways and Means Committee (BURT), as well as make additional appointments (of lawmakers from the Great Indonesia Coalition) to deputy chairmanship posts.
' Agree to revise points 3, 4, 5 and 6 of Article 74 and points 7, 8 and 9 of Article 98 of the MD3 Law and to omit points 2, 3 and 4 of Article 60 of the House's 2014 internal regulation because all such stipulations are already contained in Articles 79, 194-227 of the MD3 Law.
' Agree to allow leaders of political factions within the Red-and-White Coalition and the Great Indonesia Coalition to discuss details of the implementation of the deal.
