No Need to Rush in Passing Problematic Bills

The House of Representatives (DPR) has been reminded not to rush in passing several draft laws under deliberation because they contain debatable articles.

KOMPAS/HERU SRI KUMORO

A member of the House of Representatives (DPR) expresses her opinion on a number of materials in the DPR Plenary Meeting at the Legislation Building Complex, Senayan, Jakarta, Tuesday (3/9/2019). The plenary meeting discussed the ratification on the Bill on Social Workers and disclosure of opinions of the factions and ratification of the bill on amendments to Law No. 12 of 2011 on the formation of legislation.

JAKARTA, KOMPAS – House of Representatives lawmakers should not attempt to pass several controversial draft laws in the time remaining until the end of their term, as enacting the debatable bills would cause further issues. The House has initiated measures that would allow it to postpone and transfer deliberations on the questionable bills to incoming lawmakers of the 2019-2024 legislative term.

During a plenary meeting on Tuesday at the Senayan legislative complex in Jakarta, legislators agreed to postpone passing the Water Resources Bill (SDA Bill), which had been scheduled to take place before their term of office ended later this month.

The bill has been postponed because of unresolved technical issues, not because of its substance. Civil society groups have criticized the SDA Bill because it does not provide strict restrictions on water management by private utility companies.

The House and the government of the 2014-2019 term had planned to expedite deliberations on a number of bills for passing into law before their terms end on Sept. 24, 2019, including the Land Bill. However, civil society groups opposed the plan because of “debatable” articles in the bill that allowed government ministers “in certain situations” to grant land rights to certain parties.

The term “certain situations” was not clearly defined in the bill, and thus maintained a loophole for abuse of power.

The National Alliance for Criminal Code Reform said that at least five articles in the Draft Criminal Code (RKUHP) also needed reviewing.

KOMPAS/ALIF ICHWAN

Women activists invite people at the Hotel Indonesia traffic circle, Jakarta, during the car free day on Sunday (25/8/2019), to support their action calling on the government to immediately ratify the Bill on the Elimination of Sexual Violence.

"If these articles are forcibly passed, Indonesia will not only suffer a setback in law enforcement, but also in democratization. Passing these articles will cause confusion because [they lack] clear interpretations,” said Institute for Criminal Justice Reform (ICJR) director Erasmus Napitupulu.

The five contentious articles do not take a firm stance on capital punishment, include customary laws or living laws that could potentially threaten legal principles, comprise stipulations that could pose a threat to civil freedoms and democratic principles (like the articles on insulting the president and insulting the courts), do not protect vulnerable groups such as women and children (article on adultery) and regulate specific crimes like corruption, terrorism and narcotics that are covered in separate laws.

Next legislature

Agustinus Pohan, a lecturer at the Parahyangan Catholic University in Bandung, said the government and the House should postpone passing draft laws that remained problematic.

Ideally, the 2019-2024 House would not need to begin its deliberation of these problematic bills from scratch. "If there was a mechanism to allow the incoming House members to ‘carry over’ [sic] deliberating the bills, it would [offer] a way out in resolving the issues," said Pohan.

Eddy O.S. Hiariej of the government’s Criminal Code expert team said that the plan to revise the Criminal Code was initially proposed 56 years ago but did not garner public attention, and that the government even ignored it. “Now that the deliberation on the Criminal Code Bill is almost finished, why it should be postponed?” he added.

KOMPAS/HERU SRI KUMORO

Empty seats dominate the scene during the House of Representatives (DPR) Plenary Meeting at the Legislative Building Complex, Senayan, Jakarta, Tuesday (3/9/2019). The plenary meeting discussed the Bill on Social Workers and opinions of the factions and ratification of the bill on amendments to Law No. 12 of 2011 on the formation of legislation.

Nevertheless, the House has opened a way for postponing deliberations by revising Law No. 12/2011 on formulating laws (PPP Law). Legislators approved the initiative to revise the PPP Law during Tuesday’s plenary session. It is expected that the revised law will be approved within the 12 remaining days of the current legislature.

Article 71A of the draft revision to the PPP Law states that if the House of Representatives is unable to finish deliberating a bill during its term, the incoming House may take over the deliberation, and that the bill could be entered on the priorities list of the National Legislative Program (Prolegnas) upon the agreement of the House, the President, and/or the Regional Representatives Council (DPD).

House legislation body (Baleg) chairman Supratman Andi Agtas said that if the “carry over” mechanism was implemented, deliberations on a number of problematic and publicly criticized bills could be postponed for resumption by the next House and government.

House Deputy Speaker Fadli Zon said that the mechanism would allow the next legislature to take over several unfinished bills, such as the Criminal Code Bill and Water Resource Bill. Meanwhile, the House expected to pass the Sexual Violence Bill amidst the current push to postpone problematic bills before the end of its term.

The bill defines nine types of sexual violence: rape, sexual harassment, sexual exploitation, forced contraception, forced abortion, forced marriage, forced prostitution, sexual slavery and sexual assault.

Women\'s Empowerment and Child Protection Minister Yohana Susana Yembise stressed that passing the Sexual Violence Bill was extremely urgent, and expressed her hope that the House would immediately fulfill its promise to pass the bill.

(REK/AGE/SON/NIA/ICH)