Visit of Indonesian Commission 1 Parliamentary Delegation to CDI

As part of CDI's ongoing cooperation with the Indonesian parliament, CDI held a meeting with members of Commission 1 of the DPR during their visit to Australia in June 2006.

Commission 1 is the premier Indonesian parliamentary committee dealing with issues of defence, foreign affairs, communications and information. It includes members of all the major political parties in Indonesia and is an important and influential standing committee of the parliament. CDI has sponsored joint seminars between Commission 1 and relevant Australian parliamentary committees such as the Joint Standing Committee on Treaties (JSCOT) and the Joint Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade (JSCFADT) .

Discussions at the meeting covered a wide range of areas of possible assistance, including:

• Assistance with legislative drafting, namely current bills including those dealing with Freedom of Information and national postal service.
• Assistance to the Commission 1 secretariat
• Further cooperation between Commission 1 and Australia's JSCFADT
• Australia /Indonesia Defence treaty and security issues
• Development of  democratic institutions in Papua - especially the new provincial legislature

It was agreed that CDI will work closely with both Commission 1 and the relevant Australian committees to ascertain agreed areas of co-operation as part of our ongoing work to strengthen parliamentary committees in the future.

MPs in delegation:

Dr Muhammad Hikam (Delegation Leader)
Dr Yusron Ihza
Dr Yuddy Chrisnandi
Boy MW Saul
Chudlary Syafi Hadzami