Page 109 - BUKU A CENTURY OF PARLIAMENTARY LIFE IN INDONESIA

A CENTURY OF PARLIAMENTARY LIFE
IN INDONESIA

Although in the early days of Liberal Democra-
cy the DPR was temporary as members were
not selected through an official election, it still
In a government served its function. As stated in Article 89 of the

that implements 1950 Constitution, the DPRS and the government
exercised legislative powers. The DPRS acted as
a parliamentary a law-making body and could exercise the right

democracy system, the of initiative (proposing a law to the government),
while the government could submit a proposed
DPRS can overthrow bill to the DPRS.

the cabinet if it sees DPRS’ other duties were mentioned in several
that the government articles, including:

has taken actions 1. Article 113-116 UUDS 1950: DPRS has the

without the approval right to determine the state budget. The pro-
posed state budget is issued by the govern-
of the DPRS (Article 83 ment and must be approved by the DPRS.
paragraph 2 of the 1950 2. Article 83 paragraph 2 of the 1950 Constitu-

Constitution). tion: DPRS has the right and obligation to su-
pervise actions taken by the government. In
other words, the government cannot take ac-
tion without the approval of the DPRS. If the
government takes action without the support
of the DPRS, then the DPRS can force the
cabinet to resign.

In addition to the tasks mentioned above, the DPRS also had four rights
over the government, such as:

1. The first right, as contained in Article 91 of the 1950 Constitution, was
the right of amendment. The DPRS had the right to make changes in
the proposed law submitted by the government to the DPRS.

2. The next right was the right of interpellation and the right to ask
questions as regulated in Article 69 of the 1950 Constitution. This
right allowed the DPR to question the cabinet on implemented poli-
cies.

3. The third right, as stated in Article 70 of the 1950 Constitution, was
the right of inquiry. DPRS could investigate the policies implemented
by the government.

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