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House mulls carry-over mechanism for unfinished bills
Only four of 55 bills in the 2019 National Legislation Program (Prolegnas) have been passed into law.
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A file photograph shows empty seats at the House of Representatives. (JP/Dhoni Setiawan)
T
he House of Representatives has initiated a bill to make the carry-over procedure for unfinished bills possible, which would allow the new lawmakers to continue deliberating them, preventing them from being relinquished.
Analysts have long criticized the absence of such a mechanism, as the deliberation of unfinished bills has had to go back to square one when new House members are inaugurated, resulting in poor legislative performance and wasteful budgetary spending.
Near the end of its five-year term on Oct. 1, the inauguration day of new House members, only four of 55 bills in the 2019 National Legislation Program (Prolegnas) had been passed into law: the Midwifery Law, the Printed, Recorded and Digital Works Law, the Hajj and Umrah Law and the Science and Technology System Law.
Among the remaining bills, 30 have only entered the initial deliberation process, leaving the rest untouched.
In a plenary session led by House Deputy Speaker Utut Adianto of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) on Tuesday, all the lawmakers agreed to propose a bill intended to attach the carry-over mechanism to Article 71(a) of Law No. 12/2011 on the rule-making process. The House will later invite the government for further discussion.
President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo stated at the end of August a demand for the carry-over procedure in the House, citing the need for the speedy lawmaking process.
“Unfinished bills should automatically be carried over to the lawmakers sitting in the next term,” Jokowi said.
