Page 114 - BUKU A CENTURY OF PARLIAMENTARY LIFE IN INDONESIA

EFFORT TO REUNITE THE REPUBLIC OF INDONESIA
(1950 – 1960)

To determine its stance on the West Irian issue, the parliament held a
vote at the end of the parliamentary general view session on the four
submitted motions. The results showed that, in the early days of Natsir’s
cabinet, the parliament gave quite a significant support for government
programs related to the West Irian problem.

The crisis experienced by Natsir’s cabinet reached its peak in early 1951
when the opposition in parliament led by the PNI filed the Hadikusumo
motion. The submitted motion was related to Government Regulation
(PP) Number 39 of 1950 concerning the Estab-
lishment of the Regional People’s Representative
Council (DPRD) and its Government Council. This
PP was born at the end of the Halim Cabinet ad-
ministration in the Republic of Indonesia, which The downfall of Natsir’s
was still a state of RIS. Hadikusumo demanded cabinet was going to
the revocation of the PP and wanted more demo-
cratic elections for DPRD members. happen sooner or later.
Since the beginning,
This PP, which consisted of 8 chapters with 17 ar- Natsir’s cabinet faced
ticles, was issued by the government because the
law governing the election procedures for provin- many challenges from
cial DPRD and the regions it represented could the parliament due to
not be implemented. With the issuance of PP No.
39 In 1950, all Regional People’s Representative the failure to form the
Councils were dissolved.
Masyumi-PNI coalition
Hadikusumo’s motion was filed in mid-January cabinet.
1951, with strong support from the opposition and
government-supporting parties (PIR, Parindra,
and Parkindo), while another government-sup-
porting party, PSI, decided to abstain. As a result,
Hadikusumo’s motion received the most parliamentary votes and gave
the cabinet a crushing defeat. Seventy votes were in favor of the motion,
while 48 were against it.

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