T

he House of Representatives has revived hopes that the government will support its controversial constituency fund mechanism, despite its poor performance in the first 10 months of its 2014 to 2019 term.

Reporting on the legislative body'€™s performance in a speech commemorating its 70th anniversary on Friday, House speaker Setya Novanto said that lawmakers had completed their work on the mechanism to spend the constituency fund and maintained that it was a law-given right.

Setya said the House had formed a team to deliberate on the constituency fund mechanism as a means of representing the people, stipulated in the 2014 Legislative Institution Law, otherwise known as the MD3 Law.

'€œStudies from various countries have shown [how] the constituency fund is mostly used in line with the principles of expediency, justice, transparency and accountability,'€ the Golkar party politician said during his speech during the plenary session on Friday.

'€œThose are the foundations through which the House proposes to the government development projects that are reflections of the electoral districts'€™ aspirations,'€ he said.

Supporters of the scheme argued that the total of Rp 11.2 trillion (US$ 802.9 million) to be allocated to the 560 lawmakers annually was a way to help them realize their campaign promises to develop their electoral districts.

The House has been under pressure for having underperformed since the beginning of its term. Of the 37 priority bills that the House had planned to pass this year as part of the National Legislation Program (Prolegnas), legislators so far had only passed two bills: one on regional elections and the other on regional administrations.

It is also aiming to pass fewer bills this sitting period, citing other priorities such as consolidating the 2016 state budget proposal and preparing for the regional elections.

Setya shifted the blame onto the government for the House'€™s lackluster performance, arguing that the government was equally responsible for the legislative process.

'€œThe legislative process is not just the responsibility of the House or the government. There needs to be a commitment among the two in finalizing legislation,'€ he said, asking the government to expedite its work on the preparation of academic reviews used in the deliberation of bills.

House deputy speaker Taufik Kurniawan told The Jakarta Post that the decision to enact the mechanism on the constituency fund would rely on the goodwill of the government when discussions recommenced between the government and the House Budgetary Committee (Banggar).

'€œThe constituency fund mechanism will depend on discussions between Banggar and the government '€” the House won'€™t insist on it, but we will be very grateful [if the government reconsiders its viability],'€ said Taufik, a National Mandate Party (PAN) politician.

Previously, President Joko '€œJokowi'€ Widodo rejected the proposed constituency fund plan endorsed by the House, despite the latter having already officially approved the scheme during a plenary meeting during the last sitting period.

Apart from the constituency fund, lawmakers were also adamant on continuing the House'€™s Rp 2.7 billion mega project, despite increasing pressure to drop the plan.

Setya said the construction of the House'€™s new building was a long-term project and the House would be willing to wait until after economic conditions improved.

Lawmaker Jazuli Juwaini of the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) faction said that there were other alternatives to abandoning the project for good. '€œIf [the cost] is too burdensome, there are other solutions: we can either postpone it or build it incrementally over multiple years,'€ he said.