"We see that the draft revision still needs further deliberations so that various factions in the House, including the Democratic Party Faction (FPD), have yet to endorse it," Agus Hermanto, the deputy chief of the Democratic Partys (PDs) Board of Patrons, said at the Parliament building here on Friday.
The House of Representatives on Wednesday night decided to postpone a planned DPR plenary session on Thursday to approve the draft revision into a draft law at the initiative of the House.
He said that four points in the draft revision of the KPK law were viewed as having a potential to weaken the KPK, rather than strengthen it. These four points were discussed in the Houses Legislation Body.
According to him, the decision to reject the KPK law revision was based on inputs from the public. "A majority of the people rejected the revision of the KPK law as proposed," the PD deputy chief patron said.
Agus asked all factions in the House to sit together and discuss it in detail. The House needs to allocate adequate time to give all factions a chance to express their respective opinions and hear others.
Apart from that, he said, the Democratic Party wants the prosecution institution and the police to be reinforced so that efforts to fight corruption, collusion and nepotism can be taken up in earnest.
"Let us sit together and discuss it further, taking adequate time. We saw that there was not enough time for deliberations in the Legislation Body on Wednesday," he said.
He said the Democratic Party will consistently play its role as a party that ensures a balance in power, and would support the government policies if these are in line with the peoples aspirations.
However, if the policies are found not in keeping with the peoples aspirations, it will reject these and will provide suggestions for improvements.
Chairman of the Democratic Party Faction (FPD) in House, Edhie Baskoro Yudhoyono, said on Wednesday that his faction consistently rejected the revision of the law.
"We reject the move to revise the law because we are of the view that the only impact it will have is to weaken the KPKs authority," Edhie said.
He said the authority of the KPK and other law enforcing institutions, such as the National Police and the Attorney Generals Office, should be reinforced and these must be developed into effective institutions which can uphold the countrys legal sovereignty.
According to Edhie, there has been no urgency to necessitate the revision of the KPK law. "After all, the KPK has been manned by credible and selected personnel, who have the proven ability to drive law enforcement in Indonesia," he said.
The FPD chairman, who is also a member of Commission X on education and cultural affairs, encouraged the KPK to be more firm in carrying out its tasks so that (crime) prevention and prosecution could run well.
"The regulations are already there. The KPK has been also strengthened with competent personnel who can enforce the law," he said.(*)
Editor: Heru Purwanto
Copyright © ANTARA 2016
