JAKARTA. A leading member of the House of Representatives said debate on the controversial tax amnesty bill could be wrapped up in May.

Chairman of the Commission XI of the House Ahmadi Noor Supit said it would be impossible to finish debate during this period of parliamentary session.

"I think we could rush to finish it before the draft revision of the state budget was passed into law. Hopefully we could do it end of May," Supit said after a meeting with Vice President Jusuf Kalla here on Wednesday.

He said the parliament would invite a number of academicians , business leaders, and economists to discuss and study the bill.

"We will prioritize understanding of the Commission IX lawmakers, therefore, we would invite economic players, Kadin and other business organization like Hipmi and Apindo as well as experts both those known to be in favor and against the bill," he said.

He said there were already 16 experts contributing opinions about the bill over the past three days.

The Commission would also visit a number of tertiary educational institutions to discuss the tax amnesty bill, he said.

"We also would invite PPATK (Financial Analysis and Reporting Center), KPK (the Corruption Eradication Commission), police and the attorney general, that everything would be clear," he said.

Meanwhile, House Speaker Ade Komarudin said he hope debate on the bill could be wrapped up before the revised draft of the state budget is passed into law.

"We have discussed with the Vice President, and we agreed on the schedule before the draft revision of the state budget was passed into law," he said, stressing its importance for the nation.

On Wednesday morning Ade Komarudin accompanied by Ahmadi Supit visited Jusuf Kalla and had lunch with the vice president at his office.

The three also discussed Ade's bid for new general chairman of the Golkar party.

Earlier this month the government proposed the tax amnesty bill to the parliament but the House decided to put off debate only saying there are things that need to be consulted with the government.

The lawmakers were split over whether to approve or to reject the bill. The controversy is also sharp in the public with the labor union threatening to stage a massive demonstration on the labor day on May 1 if the government would continue to push for approval of the bill.

Editor: Yudho Winarto