The amended Law on Legislative Bodies (or MD3 Laws) has received scant attention although it is a scourge for the new Joko Widodo administration.

The recently amended 2009 Law on the People’s Consultative Assembly (MPR), House of Representatives (DPR), Regional Representatives Council (DPD) and the Regional House of Representatives (DPRD) – collectively known as MD3 Laws – began its debut by pouring cold water on President Joko Widodo’s Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDIP).

Under the revised MD3 Laws, PDIP was prevented from assuming Speakership of the DPR – once considered the preserve of the party with the largest number of DPR seats, which the PDIP currently has. Instead it was put to a democratic vote in which Setya Novanto from Golkar emerged victorious. The position of deputy parliamentary speakers subsequently also went to the various party representatives of the Red and White Coalition (Koalisi Merah Putih, KMP).

…Jonathan Chen and Keoni Indrabayu Marzuki are respectively Associate Research Fellow and Research Associate at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS), Nanyang Technological University.