1945 Constitution 'open for revision'

JAKARTA (JP): Constitutional law expert Yusril Ihza Mahendra is striving to upturn the long-held conviction that the 1945 Constitution is untouchable. On Saturday he said the document was open for revision.

In an oration to mark his professorship at the University of Indonesia's School of Law in Depok, West Java, on Saturday, Yusril said the Constitution itself guaranteed the provision for revision.

Article 37 stipulates that a revision could be made in a session of the People's Consultative Assembly attended by at least two-thirds of its 1,000 members.

Yusril, aged 42, said open and academic debates on the interpretation of the 1945 Constitution should be maintained as only through these could scholars realize that the creations of people were not absolute.

Another proponent of constitutional revision is human rights campaigner Adnan Buyung Nasution who explored the issue in his 1995 book Aspirasi Pemerintahan Konstitusional di Indonesia (The Aspiration for Constitutional Government in Indonesia).

Opponents of the idea, however, are numerous with most arguing that changing the Constitution is tantamount to changing the nation's foundations.

Yusril spoke out against inflexibility in the interpretation of the Constitution as it would be contradictory to the spirit of the Constitution itself.

Yusril cited President Soeharto's backtracking on the agreement signed in January with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in exchange for bailout package for Indonesia's battered economy as an example of recent reinterpretation of the Constitution.

Soeharto refused to implement all of the measures several weeks after the signing because he suddenly decided that certain points in the agreement violated Article 33 of the Constitution.

This stresses an economy based on "familial principles" rather than the liberalized economy that the IMF reforms would have created.

Yusril hails from Belitung island in South Sumatra. He graduated from the University of Indonesia's School of Law in 1983 and obtained his doctorate from the Universiti Sains Malaysia in 1993.

He now teaches at his alma mater, as well at the privately run Jakarta-based Muhammadiyah and Jayabaya universities.

He is a staff member of the State Secretariat, a Golkar legislator in the People's Consultative Assembly and a member of a team of analysts at the National Research Institute.

Present at Yusril's inauguration ceremony were cabinet ministers Akbar Tandjung, Quraish Shihab, Justika Sjarifudin Baharsjah and Muhammad Alwi Dahlan.

Also attending were former minister/state secretary Moerdiono, deputy House speakers Syarwan Hamid and Ismail Hasan Metareum, Jakarta Military Commander Maj. Gen. Sjafrie Sjamsoeddin and Golkar legislator Abdullah Puteh. (imn)