NGOs reject the work of the Constitutional Commission<\/p>\n
Kurniawan Hari, Jakarta<\/p>\n
Just two days before it has to present its work to the People's
\nConsultative Assembly (MPR), the Constitutional Commission came
\nunder fire for not synchronizing articles of the Constitution.<\/p>\n
A number of non-governmental organizations (NGOs), grouped
\nunder the Coalition for the New Constitution, said on Tuesday the
\ncommission had not upgraded the Constitution.<\/p>\n
\"There are contradictions and inconsistencies in the academic
\ndraft proposed by the commission,\" said Firmansyah Arifin from
\nthe National Consortium for Legal Reform (KRHN).<\/p>\n
The coalition, which consists of 32 NGOs, concluded the
\nConstitutional Commission had lost the momentum to create
\nguidelines for the development of democracy in the country.<\/p>\n
Joining the rally were Smita Notosusanto of the Center for
\nElectoral Reform (CETRO), Binny Buchori of the International NGO
\nForum on Indonesian Development (INFID), Usman Hamid from the
\nCommission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras),
\nHusna of the Indonesian Women's Coalition (KPI), and Bambang
\nHarymurti, the chief editor of Tempo magazine.<\/p>\n
They also criticized the Constitutional Commission for not
\nallowing the public to participate in the process of
\nsynchronizing articles of the Constitution.<\/p>\n
They said the Constitutional Commission had not clarified that
\nthe MPR would no longer be a permanent legislative body, but
\nsimply a joint forum between the House of Representatives (DPR)
\nand the Regional Representatives Council (DPD).<\/p>\n
The Constitutional Commission was also criticized for
\nproposing that presidential candidates would only need a simple
\nmajority vote to win.<\/p>\n
Under the current system, a presidential candidate and his or
\nher running mate must win more than 50 percent of the votes,
\nwhich are distributed among at least 16 provinces, with at least
\n20 percent of the votes in each province.<\/p>\n
The coalition of NGOs said this would only encourage more
\ncandidates to contest the presidential race. If that happened, a
\ncandidate that gained 20 percent of the votes could be declared
\nthe winner, despite a lack of legitimacy.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Bambang Harymurti focused his criticism on the
\nConstitutional Commission's decision to remove the article on
\npress freedom from the Constitution.<\/p>\n
Earlier, the commission had included an article to protect the
\nfreedom of the press in the Constitution, which it later removed.<\/p>\n
\"There are signs of a strong tendency to again take away the
\nfreedom of the press, which would be dangerous,\" he added.<\/p>\n
The coalition suggested the MPR reject the works of the
\nConstitutional Commission and establish an independent commission
\nassigned to draft a new constitution.<\/p>\n
The Constitutional Commission was set up in October last year
\nto assess and synchronize the amendments made by the MPR to the
\nConstitution, which many said were inconsistent and the result of
\nshort-term political interests.<\/p>\n
The 31-member Constitutional Commission was also criticized
\nfor the absenteeism of its members.<\/p>",
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