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'Anti-sexual deviance propaganda' bill mysteriously on priority list
No one in the House seems to know who proposed the bill, despite it being listed in the official 2019-2024 National Legislation Program (Prolegnas).
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Gearing up: House of Representatives members prepare to hold a plenary meeting at the House complex in Senayan, Central Jakarta, in 2016. Among the entries for the 2019-2024 National Legislation Program (Prolegnas) is an "anti-sexual deviance propaganda" bill that has suddenly appeared on the list. Nobody seems to know who proposed the bill. (Tempo/-)
T
he massive 2019-2024 National Legislation Program (Prolegnas) set by the House of Representatives lists 248 bills, including four proposed omnibus laws, an ambitious undertaking considering that the previous House only managed to pass 91 out of the 189 bills in the 2014-2019 Prolegnas.
One of the more curious entries on the list, which was approved at a plenary session of the House and signed by House Speaker Puan Maharani last month, is an "anti-sexual deviance propaganda" bill put at no. 74.
The title of the bill echoes the country’s commonly spouted rhetoric against the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community, who are often accused of spreading "pro-LGBT propaganda" by conservatives.
No one in the House seems to know who proposed the bill, despite it being listed in the official Prolegnas document.
United Development Party lawmaker Achmad Baidowi, the deputy chairman of the House's legislative body (baleg) responsible for compiling the Prolegnas, said that he "forgot" which House faction or member first suggested that the bill be put on the list.
"I forgot because there were so many suggestions," he told reporters at the House compound in South Jakarta on Thursday. "If I'm not mistaken, there were about 300 that were proposed. We combed through to pick about 200."
He said that the bill did not have a draft or even an academic paper yet and was still only a title and an oral description given by the proposer (whom he didn't remember) at one of the baleg meetings to compile the list.
