Ferry Irwanto & April Aswadi

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and House Speaker Agung Laksono speak to the press at the State Palace in Jakarta on Wednesday. (Photo: Widodo S. Jusuf, Antara)

Antigraft Bill Low Down on DPR Agenda

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and leaders of the House of Representatives on Wednesday agreed to push for the passage of six “crucial” bills before the current legislature is dissolved on Sept. 30, but the much-anticipated bill on the Anti-Corruption Court was not one of them.

Speaking after meeting with House Speaker Agung Laksono, Deputy Speaker Muhaimin Iskandar and several other lawmakers at the Presidential Palace in Jakarta, Yudhoyono said the bill on the Anti-Corruption Court was not included because the Constitutional Court had ruled that it did not have to be passed until Dec. 19.

The current Anti-Corruption Court, hailed as a key weapon in the country’s battle against corruption, has its legal basis in a 2002 law on the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK). The Constitutional Court, however, ruled that mechanism was unconstitutional and ordered that a new law be drawn up.

“We really want to complete the law on the Anti-Corruption Court within the present presidential and House terms,” Yudhoyono said. “I would prefer to continue our discussions [of the bill] and to finish it.”

The president said the six laws to be given priority in the current term would address narcotics, military courts, the currency, demographics and family prosperity, the state budget and the ratification of the 2002 Association of Southeast Asian Nations pact on transboundary haze.

Yudhoyono said he preferred not to issue a special regulation in lieu of law, known as a perpu, for the Anti-Corruption Court, as many observers have sought given the drawn-out legislative debate that has so far held up the bill.

“We will only use a regulation in lieu of law if we really have to,” the president said. “The fewer regulations in lieu of laws there are the better, because we still have some other mechanisms and time to complete the law.”

Speaking on the same occasion, Agung said the House’s Commission III, which oversees legal and judiciary affairs, had already set up a special task force to carry out an intensive review of the draft Anti-Corruption Court bill.

“We will also try to complete it before September 30,” he said. “The Constitutional Court has decided that the law must be completed by December 19, 2009. If it can’t be done by that time, then of course there will be ways to go about handling that problem. But we will try our best.”

Overall, Agung said, lawmakers and the government had agreed to complete 284 pieces of legislation during the five-year term that ends on Sept. 30. So far, however, only 163 bills have become law.

“We hope that in the four remaining months we can finalize more bills,” he said, “including those six urgent bills.”

Explaining his choice of bills to push for in the coming months, Yudhoyono said that a narcotics law was a priority because drug-related crimes were becoming a major problem worldwide, including in Indonesia.

He said the military courts law was needed to allow soldiers suspected of involvement in off-duty, nonmilitary crimes to go before civilian criminal courts. “The currency bill is needed because we can’t hand over all matters concerning the currency to Bank Indonesia,” Yudhoyono said. “We have to have checks and balances.”

The demographics and family prosperity bill would address the social, economic and health needs of citizens, while the state budget bill would allow state institutions to make necessary fiscal preparations.

Yudhoyono said the bill ratifying the Asean agreement on transboundary haze was necessary to allow member countries to cooperate in the fight against forest fire-related pollution, a common problem during the dry season.

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