'Amend discriminative Article 6'

'Amend discriminative Article 6'

JAKARTA (JP): A group of Chinese Indonesians have urged the
People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) to amend Article 6 of the
1945 Constitution on presidential nominations, which they claimed
was discriminative.

The chairman of the Association of Chinese Indonesian Families
told the Assembly's ad hoc I committee for constitutional
amendment on Friday the Constitution was restrictive in that it
required the president to be an Indonesian native.

"To erase the image that the ruling is discriminative and
racist, the requirement should be abolished," Tedy said.

He said the association instead proposed that an Indonesian
president be a citizen and the presidential nomination be
regulated by a law.

Citizens who are eligible for the presidency must be born in
Indonesia from parents who are both Indonesian citizens by birth,
not because of naturalization, according to Tedy.

Chairman of the ad hoc committee Jacob Tobing said it was
likely the Assembly would agree to stipulate that "the president
is an Indonesian native citizen".

An Indonesian native citizen is one who is born here,
according to Jacob.

He said the Assembly would suggest that the law on the
presidency stipulate that the president should have been living
in Indonesia for a certain number of years to assure that he or
she had knowledge of the country.

Tedy also suggested that the term "Tionghoa people" be used
nationwide to replace "Chinese Indonesian". Former president B.J.
Habibie already proposed the use of Tionghoa to differ Chinese
Indonesians from Chinese overseas.

On Confucianism, Tedy asked the government not to acknowledge
it as one of official religions, but to leave the matter to its
followers.

"There are hundreds of sects that practice Confucianism, and
they all will seek the government's recognition. Let the people
handle it, as far it does not violate the law and morals," he
added. (jun)