Scholar opposes presidential ruling amendment<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): A constitutional law professor lashed out on
\nTuesday at a proposal to amend Article 8 of the 1945 Constitution
\non the crucial role of the vice president.<\/p>\n
Bagir Manan of the Bandung-based Padjadjaran University said
\non the sidelines of a People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) ad hoc
\ncommission session here that he suspected political motives
\nbehind the plan, targeted at Megawati Soekarnoputri.<\/p>\n
\"That's so. It's not fair if an amendment to the article is
\ndemanded because certain politicians do not like Megawati,\" Bagir
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
The article stipulates that if the president is incapacitated,
\nthe vice president will take over the government top job. Bagir
\nsaid the article was both commonplace and universally applied.<\/p>\n
He was commenting on House of Representatives Speaker Akbar
\nTandjung's statement, who said on Tuesday that Article 8 needed
\namending since the current president and vice president had not
\nbeen elected in a package.<\/p>\n
\"If it's not a package, the vice president does not
\nautomatically replace the president if the latter is
\nincapacitated,\" said Akbar, who is also chairman of the Golkar
\nParty.<\/p>\n
He said such an amendment would be unnecessary if the current
\nsystem of electing the president was changed into one where he or
\nshe was elected directly.<\/p>\n
The loose coalition of Muslim-based parties known as the \"axis
\nforce\" was the first group to raise the idea to amend the ruling.
\nAssembly Speaker Amien Rais, who also chairs the National Mandate
\nParty (PAN), has supported the proposal.<\/p>\n
Amien said the appointment of B.J. Habibie to the presidential
\npost replacing Soeharto in 1998 taught Indonesia that an
\nautomatic transfer of power (from president to vice president)
\nraised legitimacy concerns. The vice president, he said, was not
\nmandated by the Assembly to lead the country.<\/p>\n
Bagir insisted that the president and vice president were
\nelected in a single package, saying that when the Assembly
\nmembers elected a vice president, they acknowledged Article 8.<\/p>\n
He admitted that the Assembly had the right to amend the
\nConstitution, but urged that it should heed the public and
\nrefrain from taking decisions arbitrarily.<\/p>\n
However, Bagir agreed that in the unique situation in which
\nboth president and vice president were incapacitated, the
\nAssembly and House speakers could take over to prepare for the
\nnext presidential election.<\/p>\n
He suggested that a ruling on presidential elections be
\nincluded in the Constitution instead of an Assembly decree or a
\nlaw, which were inferior.<\/p>\n
According to the 1973 Assembly decree, under the circumstances
\nof both president and vice president becoming incapacitated then
\nexecutive duties would be led by a triumvirate of the foreign
\naffairs minister, home affairs minister and the Indonesian
\nMilitary chief.<\/p>\n
The decree stipulates that they be given three months to elect
\na new president. (jun)<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/scholar-opposes-presidential-ruling-amendment-1447893297",
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