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n the session that opened Monday and will last until Feb.18, we should expect, at most, the House of Representatives (DPR) to pass two or three draft laws. That might not seem an impressive achievement, but it is a realistic expectation given the lingering division within the legislative body, not to mention lawmakers'€™ characteristic absenteeism.

House Speaker Setya Novanto made it clear in a speech marking the new session'€™s start that the legislative body would focus on deliberation of a government regulation in lieu of law (Perppu) on regional elections (Pilkada), as well as a Perppu on an amendment to the 2014 Regional Administration (Pemda) Law and a revision of the 2015 state budget during the 28-day period.

The House'€™s endorsement of the Perppu on regional elections is much awaited, as the General Elections Commission (KPU) will need to begin preparations for the simultaneous elections of eight governors and 198 regents and mayors next month in order for voting to take place at the end of this year. Should the House fail to make an immediate decision the KPU will have to move back regional elections to 2016.

Both the coalition supporting the government and the opposition camp at the House look to have buried differences over the content of the Perppu on regional elections, which reinstates the people'€™s right to choose their leaders. Political parties supporting President Joko '€œJokowi'€ Widodo'€™s rival in last year'€™s presidential election passed the regional elections law on Sept. 26, 2014, giving local legislative councils the right to elect regional leaders and prompting then president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to issue the Perppu in response to mounting public pressure.

Yudhoyono issued the Perppu as a revision of Law No. 23/2014 on regional administrations, which stipulated that one of the duties of regional legislative councils was to elect regional leaders.

The House will again have to show maturity when the government proposes the revised state budget, which
will double capital spending on infrastructure projects from Rp 139 trillion (US$11 billion) to Rp 290 trillion in an attempt to boost economic growth amid the gloomy global economic outlook.

Lawmakers will need to scrutinize the new budget fairly. If the revision is drafted for the maximum benefit of the people, there is no reason to reject it. More capital spending is needed as infrastructure bottlenecks will stall efforts to accelerate growth, which has been set at 5.8 percent this year, though the World Bank sets it at 5.3 percent.

The House'€™s priority agenda for the four-week session also includes deliberating amendments to the Criminal Code (KUHP) and the Criminal Law Procedures Code (KUHAP), moves which in the past sparked controversy for allegedly attempting to weaken the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK), forcing the House to delay debate.

Until the House drops its efforts to undermine the KPK through amendments to the above laws, which were inherited from the Dutch, the polemic will drag on and, worse still, result in flawed legislation.