Quote of the week: The lawmakers who make no laws

“It is pretty hard to tell lawmakers to do their job of legislating these days.”

Ignatius Mulyono, chairman of the committee charged with steering legislation through Indonesia's House of Representatives (DPR), which has passed no bills this year and has had to slash its target of 70 new laws this year to just 17. (As quoted by the Jakarta Globe.)

Since the legislative elections last April, the DPR has focused on politicking rather than policy making, with much time taken up by the politically-motivated inquiry into the bailout of Bank Century, a small lender, in 2008.

Analysts say that the lack of legislative progress in the DPR should not necessarily hold up the reform agenda as many of the most important institutional reforms can be implemented through the executive power of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and his Cabinet.