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House should rush assets bill deliberation, Jokowi says
President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo remarked in a recorded statement on Tuesday that the House of Representatives should also expedite the deliberation of the assets forfeiture bill, which has been on hold for more than a decade, as the legislature was able to rush the revision of the Regional Elections Law.
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President Joko “Jokowi“ Widodo (left) sits next to Cabinet Secretary Pramono Anung on Aug. 27, 2024, ahead of a limited cabinet meeting at the Merdeka Palace in Jakarta on mpox mitigation and preparation for the second Indonesia-Africa Forum (IAF). (Antara/Hafidz Mubarak A)
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n the wake of the uproar surrounding a rushed revision to the Regional Elections Law, President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo called on the House of Representatives to speed up the deliberation of other legislations that have seen lackluster progress.
In a recorded statement released on Tuesday evening, the President expressed his appreciation of the legislative body for its “quick response” to the swift developments around the regional elections. He referred to a hurried revision to the Regional Elections Law that the public saw as a move to subvert Constitutional Court rulings on a lower nomination threshold and a minimum age for candidates.
“A quick response is something good,” the President said. “My hope is that the same thing applies to other pressing things, such as the asset forfeiture bill, which is also very important for our fight against corruption.”
The assets bill has been in the works for more than two presidential terms, after it was dropped from the House’s priority legislation list in 2012. Anti-corruption activists have been pushing for the passage of the bill, arguing that it can help the country recover assets lost in corruption.
In May of last year, Jokowi sent a draft of the bill as well as a presidential letter to the House greenlighting its deliberation in the legislature. He has also repeatedly asserted his support for the bill, but to no avail.
Read also: Asset forfeiture bill should help fund infrastructure development, reform activists say
However, observers pointed out the peculiar timing of Jokowi’s statement on Tuesday, given that the outgoing leader stood to gain from the revised Regional Elections Law.
