Ad hoc committee undecided over MPR decree status<\/p>\n
Kurniawan Hari, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
A committee in the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) is
\nundecided on the status of 139 MPR decrees issued between 1960
\nand 2002, saying it needed more time for further discussion.<\/p>\n
The committee, especially assigned to review the decrees, said
\non Tuesday that lawmakers were confused by the various opinions
\nprovided by legal experts.<\/p>\n
\"Legal experts (invited to give inputs to the committee) do
\nnot offer a uniform opinion on those decrees,\" said committee
\nchairman Rambe Kamarulzaman here on Tuesday.<\/p>\n
The task to review the MPR decrees was set out in the amended
\n1945 Constitution.<\/p>\n
The amended Constitution introduced the bicameral system,
\neffectively scrapping the presence of the MPR as a permanent
\ninstitution. The scrapping of the MPR had raised questions as to
\nthe legal status of existing MPR decrees.<\/p>\n
At least six experts and institutions were invited to give
\ntheir views on the 139 decrees. They are Sri Soemantri from
\nBandung-based Padjajaran University, Jimly Asshiddiqie from the
\nUniversity of Indonesia, Dahlan Thaib of Yogyakarta's Indonesian
\nIslamic University (UII), a team from the Makassar-based
\nHasanuddin University, the National Resilience Institute
\n(Lemhannas), and the Association of Indonesian Political Science
\n(AIPI).<\/p>\n
Most of the experts agreed that even though those decrees had
\nnot been revoked many decrees were no longer effective.<\/p>\n
A team from Hasanuddin University said that of the 139
\ndecrees, 42 had been revoked and 79 had not been revoked but were
\nno longer effective.<\/p>\n
The team said that 18 decrees were still effective and should
\nbe maintained until 2004, five of which must be transformed into
\nlaws.<\/p>\n
Dahlan Thaib suggested that MPR Decree No. 25\/1996 banning
\ncommunism should not be revoked, but AIPI demanded that the
\ndecree be discarded for democratic reasons.<\/p>\n
AIPI also recommended that the MPR revoke decrees on the
\naccountability of former dictator Soeharto and the mechanism of
\npresidential and vice presidential elections conducted by MPR.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Lemhannas recommended that Assembly members make
\nintensive studies before making a decision on whether or not to
\nrevoke those decrees.<\/p>\n
\"Possibly, some decrees are still valid and have relevance to
\nthe current situation,\" it said.<\/p>\n
Rambe said in the next discussion on those decrees, the
\ncommittee would classify those decrees into groups.<\/p>\n
The committee will differentiate whether a decree was still in
\nline with the Constitution or otherwise; whether a decree is
\nbeing used as a basis for other laws.<\/p>\n
Jimly Asshiddiqie, meanwhile, suggested that Assembly members
\ninsert a clause stipulating that all MPR decrees would still be
\neffective as long as they were not in contradiction with the
\nConstitution.<\/p>\n
Rambe said the committee would involve more experts from
\nvarious universities to discuss the decrees. He said that the
\ncommittee would prepare materials for a decision on July 7, 2003.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/ad-hoc-committee-undecided-over-mpr-decree-status-1447893297",
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