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Most of the experts agreed that even though those decrees had not been revoked many decrees were no longer effective.
A team from Hasanuddin University said that of the 139 decrees, 42 had been revoked and 79 had not been revoked but were no longer effective.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.