Formappi Gives Red Report Card To DPR Following Weak Legislation Performance

Illustration (Photo: Antara)

JAKARTA - Formappi assessed that the performance of the Indonesian House of Representatives during the first session of the 2021-2022 Session Year had again scored a red number by only being able to produce 1 Priority Bill, namely the Bill on Harmonization of Tax Regulations. In fact, the Chairman of the House of Representatives presented 7 Priority Bills for discussion.

The person in charge of Formappi's Legislation, Lucius Karus, explained that the DPR only succeeded in approving four Open Cumulative Bills. First, the Bill on Agreements between the Republic of Indonesia and the Russian Federation on Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters (21 September 2021). Second Bill on ASEAN Agreement on Trade Through Electronic Systems (7 September 2021). "The three bills on Accountability for the Implementation of the State Budget for Fiscal Year 2020 (September 7, 2021)

According to him, the ratification of the 4 Open Cumulative Bills has indeed become a blessing for the DPR to close the ulcers of weak legislative performance. Moreover, the ratification of two bills related to the APBN should have taken place because of the inevitable demands of the budget cycle and part of the embodiment of the DPR's Budget Function.

"The ratification of the Bill on Harmonization of Tax Regulations (RUU HPP) is indeed welcomed calmly by the public. There are no movements from elements of civil society, students or the wider public. Public criticism also rarely appears on social media," he said.

From the discussion process recorded on the DPR's website, continued Lucius, the tendency of the discussion process to ignore public participation. There seems to be little space provided by the DPR and the Government to socialize the process and substance of the discussion as well as to get input from the public. "In fact, taxes are the obligations of all Indonesian tax subjects. Thus, it cannot be understood when the discussion on something that is the obligation of citizens does not involve the public at large," he added.

Lucius said that the low productivity of the DPR's legislative sector was complemented by a 'crazy' decision to add 4 new bills to the 2021 Priority List, namely the Bill on the Criminal Code (KUHP), the Correctional Bill, the Bill on Information and Electronic Transactions (ITE). , and the Bill on the Supreme Audit Agency (BPK).

"It's difficult to understand the way the DPR thinks when it comes to making new plans when they should end the implementation period of the one-year plan that has been set since the beginning of the year," he said.

Based on notes displayed on the DPR RI website, the progress of the discussion on 37 Priority Bills for 2021 appears to be stagnant with the number of bills (14 bills) whose formation process is entering the Stage 1 Discussion (discussion) in various DPR equipment.

6 bills are still in the drafting stage, 4 bills are in the process of making proposals, 9 bills have not been touched at all. Not to mention the three Presidential Letters (Surpres) that were submitted to the DPR to discuss the Bill on the Establishment of a Religious High Court in 5 provinces, namely Bali, West Papua, Riau Islands, North Kalimantan and West Sulawesi.

Then the Bill on the Establishment of High Courts in 4 provinces, namely Riau Islands, West Sulawesi, North Kalimantan and West Papua, as well as the Bill on the Establishment of State Administrative High Courts in 4 provinces, namely Palembang, Banjarmasin, Manado and Mataram.

From the development of the bill deliberation process as above, it can be seen how heavy the burden of the DPR's AKD in carrying out its legislative function is. At the same time, certain AKDs carry out the preparation and deliberation of the bill.

"Of course the double burden of discussing more than one bill on a certain AKD will break their focus on completing one bill. This way of working is very likely to be one of the causes of the lack of bills that can be completed," he concluded.