DPR to Safari Politics to Non-Parlimentary Political Parties, Serap Aspiration regarding the Election Bill

JAKARTA - Deputy Chairman of Commission II of the House of Representatives, Aria Bima, said his party would conduct a safari to a number of non-parliamentary political parties (parpol) to absorb aspirations related to the discussion of the Draft Election Law (RUU).

"In addition to civil society, campuses, we are in the process of drafting this bill, we want to hear from parties that are not in parliament," said Aria Bima in a statement quoted on Monday, June 29.

The agenda is planned to be led directly by the Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives of the Republic of Indonesia, Sufmi Dasco Ahmad, together with the leadership of Commission II and representatives of the factions in the DPR.

"We want the safari to be directly led by the Deputy Speaker of the DPR, Mr. Dasco, together with the leadership of Commission II and the poksi-poksi who represent representatives of the existing factions," said Aria.

According to him, the political safari is part of the DPR's efforts to gather the widest possible input from various parties before drafting the draft Election Bill. In addition to civil society groups and campus circles, said Aria, parties that do not have seats in parliament will also be given space to convey their views.

The PDIP politician revealed that there were a number of crucial issues that would be discussed in the meeting, ranging from the parliamentary threshold to the regulation of electoral districts.

"We have to listen to the crucial issues, namely the parliamentary threshold, presidential threshold, as well as Dapil and the seat limit per Dapil," he said.

Aria added that the political safari agenda was targeted to be implemented before the DPR RI recess period and could possibly start to be carried out in the near future. "What is clear is that before the recess period we will have a visit. Insyaallah next week has been scheduled," he said.

Even so, Aria said the format for the political safari is still under discussion. The DPR, he said, is still considering whether the visit will be made separately to each non-parliamentary party or through a joint forum involving several parties at once.

"Because this is still like this, it is still being arranged between us coming one by one or there are groups of parties that do not pass the parliamentary threshold. That will be left to the leadership of the DPR," he concluded.