Plenary Delay For Ratification Of The DPR Manuver Election Bill Temporarily Redam People's Anger, Don't Be Fooled

Executive Director of the Political Era of Khafidlul Ulum. (ANTARA/Walda Marison)

Political observer and Executive Director of the Political Era of Khafidlul Ulum said the DPR RI's decision to postpone the Plenary Meeting of Ratification of the Pilkada Bill was only aimed at reducing public anger. "It is quite dangerous if the results of the revision of the Pilkada Law are passed. So the DPR is maneuvering it to postpone it for a while so that the anger of the people a bit subsides so that people are fooled," said Khafidlul in a press release received by ANTARA in Jakarta, Thursday, August 22. According to Khafidlul, the postponement of the plenary meeting was very odd because previously in the discussion of the Pilkada Bill on Wednesday (21/8), almost all factions, except the PDI-P, agreed that the discussion was brought to a plenary meeting. However, currently, the majority of DPR members are not present at the plenary meeting. In fact, if the factions come as discussed in the previous Pilkada Bill, the bill has the potential to be passed as a law. According to him, the postponement of the discussion is not the final answer to the polemic of the Pilkada Bill because the DPR could ratify the Pilkada Bill into law without the public's knowledge. "The DPR can ratify the bill at any time, not in the morning, afternoon, evening, even midnight or early morning. We still remember that the Law on the Capital City of the Archipelago was passed at midnight," said Khafidlul. Therefore, he hopes that the public will continue to monitor and criticize the process of discussing the Pilkada Bill into the Pilkada Law so that it does not seem to pass secretly. Previously, the masses held a demonstration to reject the efforts of the DPR RI to hold a plenary meeting that would approve the ratification of the Pilkada Bill into law. However, the plenary meeting was postponed because the number of meeting participants did not reach the quorum because only 86 of the 575 members of the DPR RI attended. In accordance with the Regulation of the House of Representatives Number 1 of 2020 concerning Order, Article 281 paragraph (1) states that the chairperson of the meeting opened a meeting if at the predetermined time to open the meeting more than 1/2 of the number of meeting members consisting of more than 1/2 faction elements.

In paragraph (2) it is stated that if at the predetermined time it has not been attended by 1/2 of the number of meeting members consisting of more than 1/2 faction elements as referred to in paragraph (1), the chairperson of the meeting announced the postponement of the meeting opening. It is also explained in paragraph (3) that the postponement of the opening of the meeting as referred to in paragraph (2) is carried out within a maximum period of 30 minutes.