REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA -- International law expert at the University of Indonesia Hikmahanto Juwana has stated that granting diplomatic passports to the members of the House of Representatives (DPR) should be done with caution.

"Even if all the members of the House get diplomatic passports, not all of them will necessarily conduct diplomatic tasks," Juwana said here on Tuesday.

According to Juwana, the diplomatic passport is issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs based on Government Regulation No. 31, 2013, on Immigration," he noted.

In Article 37, paragraph (1) states that the Diplomatic Passport is given to Indonesian citizens who travel out of Indonesia's territory to carry out diplomatic tasks.

"It is true that as chairman and vice-chairman of the state agency, House leaders are entitled to diplomatic passports as defined in the 1945 Constitution. But, the article does not include all the members of state institutions," he explained.

He cautioned that irregularities might be done using diplomatic passports.

Earlier, DPR Speaker Setya Novanto noted that all of the DPR members will have a diplomatic passport to support the Indonesian Government.

"We have communicated with the government, especially the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, regarding the issuance of diplomatic passports to the members of the House, considering their role in parliamentary diplomacy," Setya pointed out.

Setya observed that diplomatic passports will be a breakthrough in the field of diplomacy and will facilitate diplomatic missions.

He emphasized that carrying out diplomatic tasks was not easy as it necessitated the involvement of all parties.

According to him, Parliament plays an instrumental role in diplomacy with regard to Indonesia's foreign policy.

"Parliamentary diplomacy is important to advance the nation's interests and to manage international relations," he affirmed.

With regard to parliamentary diplomacy, he noted that Parliament will send a delegation to several forums: the Asian Parliamentary Assembly in Ankara, Turkey; the Women in Parliament Global Forum in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia; and the 132nd Annual Session of the Inter-Parliamentary Union in Hanoi, Vietnam.

Setya also explained that Parliament, through the Inter-Parliamentary Cooperation Agency, plans to establish and formalize a Bilateral Cooperation Group between the DPR and 42 parliaments of friendly countries.

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