Tuesday, March 19, 2024 | 14:42 WIB

House prioritizes discussion of Omnibus Draft Law and revision of Elections Law during pandemic

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IO – After the long recess due to the pandemic, members of the House of Representatives (Dewan Perwakilan Rakyat – “DPR”) return to active duty by commencing Session IV of 2019- 2020 in the Plenary Meeting held on Monday (15/06/2020) afternoon. 82 members attended the Meeting physically, while 227 were present virtually, so that the Meeting satisfied quorum requirement with a total attendance of 309 members of DPR RI. DPR RI Speaker Puan Maharani said that DPR RI has four priority Draft Laws to be discussed during the Plenary Meeting. “In the course of discharging our legislative function, we will soon be discussing a number of Draft Laws in Level I Discussions,” she said in the Session Opening Speech. 

These Draft Laws include the Island Area Draft Law, the Personal Data Protection Draft Law, the Job Creation Draft Omnibus Law, and revision of the Election Law. Puan stated that the Government Regulation In Lieu of Law concerning the latter is something that the DPR must quickly respond to, as it is the legal basis for implementing Regional Head Elections in December 2020. The DPR pays special attention to the preparation stages of the 2020 Regional Elections. All of these stages must comply with both proper electoral mechanisms and COVID-19 health protocols. “The Government and the election organizers must prepare Regional Elections properly, so that it can be held according to plan on 9 December 2020,” she said. 

Puan further stated that as part of its monitoring function, the DPR pays attention to the cancellation of hajj pilgrim departures in 2020, and also requests the Government to prepare a contingency plan. DPR is also going to provide its input concerning six Extraordinary and Fully Authorized Ambassadors of Friendly Countries candidates for the Republic of Indonesia. 

DPR is apparently continuing the discussion of the Job Creation Omnibus Draft Law despite the recent public censure that the Draft Law benefits businesses instead of workers. Community Forum for the Care of the Parliament (Forum Masyarakat Peduli Parlemen – “Formappi”) researcher Lucius Karus states that DPR only cares about its own interests amid the people’s deadly struggle against the Corona virus. “I think this is DPR’s traditional illness. They have always failed to determine the priority of what to do, and their priorities are not based on the people’s concrete needs,” he said to the press recently. “When the public’s focus is fully directed towards the Corona, DPR and the Government may consider this to be a golden opportunity for them to rapidly discuss the Job Creation Draft Omnibus Law and get it implemented as quickly as possible. DPR’s insistence to continue discussing the Job Creation Draft Omnibus Law will only cause public suspicion. For whose interest is this Draft Law made? This is only a confirmation of the suspicion that they are creating this Law for the sake of businessmen, instead of the people,” he said. (Dan)

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