Ad hoc committee undecided over MPR decree status

Ad hoc committee undecided over MPR decree status

Kurniawan Hari, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

A committee in the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) is
undecided on the status of 139 MPR decrees issued between 1960
and 2002, saying it needed more time for further discussion.

The committee, especially assigned to review the decrees, said
on Tuesday that lawmakers were confused by the various opinions
provided by legal experts.

"Legal experts (invited to give inputs to the committee) do
not offer a uniform opinion on those decrees," said committee
chairman Rambe Kamarulzaman here on Tuesday.

The task to review the MPR decrees was set out in the amended
1945 Constitution.

The amended Constitution introduced the bicameral system,
effectively scrapping the presence of the MPR as a permanent
institution. The scrapping of the MPR had raised questions as to
the legal status of existing MPR decrees.

At least six experts and institutions were invited to give
their views on the 139 decrees. They are Sri Soemantri from
Bandung-based Padjajaran University, Jimly Asshiddiqie from the
University of Indonesia, Dahlan Thaib of Yogyakarta's Indonesian
Islamic University (UII), a team from the Makassar-based
Hasanuddin University, the National Resilience Institute
(Lemhannas), and the Association of Indonesian Political Science
(AIPI).

Most of the experts agreed that even though those decrees had
not been revoked many decrees were no longer effective.

A team from Hasanuddin University said that of the 139
decrees, 42 had been revoked and 79 had not been revoked but were
no longer effective.

The team said that 18 decrees were still effective and should
be maintained until 2004, five of which must be transformed into
laws.

Dahlan Thaib suggested that MPR Decree No. 25/1996 banning
communism should not be revoked, but AIPI demanded that the
decree be discarded for democratic reasons.

AIPI also recommended that the MPR revoke decrees on the
accountability of former dictator Soeharto and the mechanism of
presidential and vice presidential elections conducted by MPR.

Meanwhile, Lemhannas recommended that Assembly members make
intensive studies before making a decision on whether or not to
revoke those decrees.

"Possibly, some decrees are still valid and have relevance to
the current situation," it said.

Rambe said in the next discussion on those decrees, the
committee would classify those decrees into groups.

The committee will differentiate whether a decree was still in
line with the Constitution or otherwise; whether a decree is
being used as a basis for other laws.

Jimly Asshiddiqie, meanwhile, suggested that Assembly members
insert a clause stipulating that all MPR decrees would still be
effective as long as they were not in contradiction with the
Constitution.

Rambe said the committee would involve more experts from
various universities to discuss the decrees. He said that the
committee would prepare materials for a decision on July 7, 2003.