Constitutional amendment hurts reform: Activists<\/p>\n
Fitri Wulandari and Tertiani ZB Simanjuntak, The Jakarta Post,
\nJakarta<\/p>\n
As the upcoming Annual Session of the People's Consultative
\nAssembly (MPR) will focus on the fourth batch of amendments to
\nthe 1945 Constitution and exclude the President's accountability
\nreport from its agenda, political activists expressed doubts on
\nMonday that the session would be beneficial for the country's
\ndemocratization process.<\/p>\n
The gathering, slated for Aug. 1 through Aug. 10, is expected
\nto finalize the deliberation of seven chapters of the fourth raft
\nof amendments to the Constitution.<\/p>\n
The activists noted that the legislature's failure to involve
\nthe general public in the amendment process would make the
\namended Constitution still far from what was desired.<\/p>\n
Hadar N. Gumay of the Center for Electoral Reform (CETRO)
\nsuggested that the process, which began in 1998, should have
\ninvolved the people and not let all the decisions be made by the
\npoliticians in the Assembly.<\/p>\n
Grouped under the Coalition for the New Constitution, CETRO
\nand other non-governmental organizations (NGOs), as well as
\nactivists, have repeatedly pushed for a transparent process
\ninvolving the public.<\/p>\n
\"Without public participation, the amendment process will only
\nproduce a poorly amended Constitution, like the one we have now,
\nwhich has been the subject of misinterpretation and abuse,\" he
\ntold The Jakarta Post in an interview.<\/p>\n
The Assembly, instead, has established an internal ad hoc
\ncommittee to carry out the task as mandated by the 1998 Special
\nSession of the Assembly following the downfall of the 32-year
\nSoeharto regime.<\/p>\n
However, the process has proven sluggish -- by comparison,
\nThailand needed only eight months to come up with a new
\nConstitution -- due to apparent horse-trading and the reluctance
\nof a part of the legislative body to have the Constitution
\namended, seeing the process as violating \"the sanctity of the
\nConstitution\".<\/p>\n
Ironically, the country's founding president Sukarno had
\nclearly pointed out that the 1945 Constitution was provisional as
\nthe country was still in a state of war.<\/p>\n
Political scientists have argued that the substance of the
\nConstitution of having been adopted from a fascistic concept of
\nthe state as practiced by the Nazi regime in Germany, which
\nfocused on overriding the power of the president and the
\nfundamental role of the functional groups, a situation revived
\nunder Golkar, the country's ruling political force in the past.<\/p>\n
A better, new and more comprehensive constitution, Sukarno
\nthen said, should be produced as soon as possible.<\/p>\n
The horse-trading practiced in the legislature was clearly
\nreflected in its controversial constitutional products, where the
\npoliticians refused to return power to the people, the activists
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
Human rights activist and lawyer Todung Mulya Lubis, who also
\nis a member of the coalition, pointed out that while several of
\nthe amendments deserved praise, the amended Constitution was not
\nbased on clear paradigms but rather was founded on conflicting
\nprinciples.<\/p>\n
\"The product is not a proper Constitution because there are
\ntoo many open-ended clauses subject to conflicting
\ninterpretations.\"<\/p>\n
Both Hadar and Todung hinted of a gloomy future for the
\namendment process, fearing that the growing opposition to it
\nwould result in deadlock during the upcoming annual session.<\/p>\n
The coalition renewed its demands that the upcoming session
\nendorse the amended Constitution as a transitional constitution
\npending the establishment of an independent constitutional
\ncommission, a view that has also been supported by some political
\nparties.<\/p>\n
With the setting up of a constitutional commission, a new,
\nmore solid Constitution would likely be produced, they said.<\/p>",
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