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Disagreements plague disaster management bill
The government and the House of Representatives are still at odds about the role that the National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) would play in the natural disaster bill that is currently being deliberated.
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This handout photo taken on May 11, and released by the National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) shows rescuers retrieving bodies after a landslide at a gold mine in South Solok, West Sumatra, where at least seven people were killed and one reported missing. (AFP/Handout)
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eliberations on the revised 2007 National Disaster Law hit another snag on Monday, with the House of Representatives nit-picking on certain provisions and accusing the government of trying to undermine the National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB).
House lawmakers initiated the national disaster bill last year in response to what it perceived to be weaknesses in mitigation efforts and their legal framework, especially in light of the COVID-19 pandemic and a wave of natural disasters that swept the nation over the past year.
But politicians have instead focused on taking issue with the state’s insistence on not mentioning the BNPB nomenclature in the draft legislation, as well as its decision to omit provisions on the state budget allocation.
Speaking at a virtual hearing with Social Affairs Minister Tri “Risma” Rismaharini on Monday, the deputy chairman of House Commission VIII overseeing social affairs, Ace Hasan Syadzily, said the commission was pushing for the bill to include “explicit and rigorous mention of the BNPB”.
He said it was to ensure the commission would be able to strengthen the BNPB’s authority instead of weakening it.
Meanwhile, Risma reaffirmed that the government had decided to leave out the issue of nomenclature from the inventory of problems (DIM) used for deliberating the bill.
She said it was unnecessary to mention the institution’s nomenclature in the legislation “to ensure flexibility in adapting to future changes in the government’s needs and conditions for development”.
