Unchecked power blamed for problems<\/p>\n
YOGYAKARTA (JP): Two government critics blamed \"unchecked
\nstate power\" for contemporary social and political problems,
\nranging from rampant corruption to human rights violations,
\nduring a university seminar.<\/p>\n
Human rights campaigner Adnan Buyung Nasution and politician
\nSri Bintang Pamungkas addressed a seminar on social engineering
\nat Gadjah Mada University yesterday, in which they found faults
\nat practically every level of society.<\/p>\n
\"Rampant corruption, collusion practices that are destroying
\nour legal and moral order and arbitrary actions against people's
\nbasic rights ... are all the result of unchecked state power,\"
\nBuyung told 300 seminar participants.<\/p>\n
Bintang, a former legislator of the Moslem-oriented United
\nDevelopment Party, said that unchecked power tends to disregard
\n\"laws, truth, justice, moral values and ethics\".<\/p>\n
\"The various political and constitutional problems that we
\nhave been facing are all caused by this kind of power,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Buyung, who is also a leading member of the Indonesian Legal
\nAid Foundation, reminded seminar participants that according to
\nthe concept of a constitutional state, power should be reined by
\nthe constitution and employed only for the good of the people.<\/p>\n
The concept, he said, was an ideal. In reality, however, it
\ngoes unchecked because it's concentrated in the hands of a few
\npeople. The situation, he argued, has rendered the existing legal
\nsystem powerless.<\/p>\n
Without the power administrator's adherence to the law, he
\nsaid, a state cannot be called \"constitutional\". \"Those entrusted
\nwith the task of running the country should be willing and have
\nthe awareness and responsibility to respect the rules and
\nlimitations imposed on their power,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Buyung suggested \"social engineering\" to correct the
\nsituation. \"We need legal change and reform now,\" he said. \"The
\nconcentration of power in the hands of the President should be
\nchanged.\"<\/p>\n
He called for a better and consistent division of power. \"We
\nneed to establish a system of checks and balances,\" he said.
\n\"Only then can Indonesia become a modern country which also meets
\nthe principles of a constitutional state.\"<\/p>\n
Buyung said that among the first steps to be taken -- if the
\npeople wished to see an accountable government -- was reviving
\nthe functions of institutes of democracy such as the House of
\nRepresentatives, the People's Consultative Assembly, political
\nparties, social and professional organizations and the press.<\/p>\n
\"The people's rights should also be protected,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Bintang called for efforts \"to return the people's sovereignty
\nand independence to the decision making processes.\"<\/p>\n
\"We have to (independently) reject absolutism. We have to
\nreject unfair and undemocratic general elections. We should hope
\nfor new leaders to emerge and correct the mistakes of old
\nleaders,\" he said. (har\/swe)<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/unchecked-power-blamed-for-problems-1447893297",
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