Powerful MPR ends last session<\/p>\n
M. Taufiqurahman, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
The members of the 1999-2004 People's Consultative Assembly (MPR)
\nended their last annual session on Sunday, yielding substantial
\nregulations that would lay the foundation for the functioning of
\nthe new Assembly early next month.<\/p>\n
The four-day session was the final annual meeting for the
\ncurrent Assembly which was set up before the amendment of the
\n1945 Constitution, consisting of elected members from political
\nparties and non-elected members from the Indonesian Military and
\nthe National Police, functional groups and regional
\nrepresentatives.<\/p>\n
The MPR plenary meeting enacted several substantial
\nregulations -- concerning its internal regulations and relations
\nwith the new government -- that would serve as guidelines for the
\nnew Assembly, slated for inauguration on Oct. 1.<\/p>\n
Among the internal regulations was that the new Assembly will
\nhave the authority to rule on a proposal from the House of
\nRepresentatives on the impeachment of the president.<\/p>\n
However, the road to impeachment would be a tortuous one as
\nthe House must present a strong case against the president's
\nwrongdoings, which would later be adjudicated by the
\nConstitutional Court, Article 4 of the MPR Decree on internal
\nregulations stipulates.<\/p>\n
The long, winding road to an impeachment was one of
\nindications that the future Assembly will no longer stand as the
\nsupreme state institution, but simply a high state institution,
\nat the same level as the House and the Regional Representatives
\nCouncil (DPD).<\/p>\n
The Assembly will only form when the House and the DPD join in
\na session at least once in five years to perform its
\nconstitutional role.<\/p>\n
Other roles for the new Assembly are to amend and enact
\narticles in the Constitution, to install the elected president
\nand vice president, and decide who will fill the two positions
\nshould they be left vacant.<\/p>\n
All factions in the current Assembly agreed on articles
\ndetailing the roles, saying that such functions had been mandated
\nby the amended Constitution.<\/p>\n
MPR member Chozin Chumaidy said that during a closed-door
\nmeeting, representatives from all factions had unanimously
\naccepted such an authority.<\/p>\n
\"We were engaged in a tense debate only when deciding the
\nmechanism to elect the speaker and three deputies for the
\nAssembly,\" he told The Jakarta Post.<\/p>\n
All factions finally agreed that in the selection of the MPR
\nspeaker, both the House and the DPD will be given an equal chance
\nto nominate three candidates.<\/p>\n
\"A plenary meeting will then hold voting and the candidate
\nwith the most votes will assume the speakership, while the three
\nwho receive the highest number of votes aside from the speaker
\nwill be declared deputy speakers,\" he said.<\/p>\n
The plenary session also decided to set up an Assembly
\nhonorary council that will be tasked with probing alleged
\nviolations of the Assembly's internal regulations and code of
\nethics.<\/p>\n
\"This is a historic decision, as it is the first time in more
\nthan 50 years that we will have an honorary body to uphold ethics
\nand discipline among the MPR members,\" said Aisyah Amini,
\nchairwoman of the subcommission responsible for deliberating the
\ninternal regulations on the body.<\/p>\n
The Assembly also agreed on the DPD internal regulations,
\nunder which its chairperson would be directly elected by the
\ncouncil members.<\/p>\n
However, the current Assembly's hard work could easily be
\nthrashed by the new Assembly, which will mostly consist of new
\nfaces.<\/p>\n
\"Members of the new Assembly may not use what we have drawn
\nup. But at least we have provided some foundations for what they
\nwill do in the first days in office,\" Chozin said.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/powerful-mpr-ends-last-session-1447893297",
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