Amended Constitution gives political parties stronger role
Tertiani ZB Simanjuntak, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The newly amended Constitution now gives more power to the people through political parties, but still lacks one thing: a proper system of checks and balances.
Political observer Bachtiar Effendi said on Sunday that the amended Constitution, although not wholly satisfactory, has put the executive, legislature and judiciary in their rightful places.
"This will eliminate possible distortion in the process of democracy," Bachtiar told The Jakarta Post.
Hadar N. Gumay from the Center for Electoral Reform (CETRO) also made a positive comment on the amended Constitution, especially on the inclusion of a direct presidential election.
With such an election, power should be distributed equally between the executive and the legislative branches, where legislators should no longer intervene with the administration.
"A direct election means, logically, the president should have full support from the people. It will strengthen the president's legitimacy. As a consequence, we will have a much better administrative system," he told The Jakarta Post on Saturday.
Conversely, Hadar said, the people would have the power to elect and even alter the administration.
Nevertheless, Bachtiar and Hadar warned that the amended Constitution was unfair in that it granted the privilege only to political parties to nominate candidates for president and vice president, as stipulated in Article 6A (paragraph 2).
No individual or candidates proposed by independent groups would be allowed to contest a presidential election.
Consequently, political parties would be able to provide a counterbalance to the president and vice president through the House of Representatives.
Hadar added that it would only be members of political parties who could contest general elections for seats in the House as well as on local legislative councils, as stipulated by Article 22E (paragraph 3).
Individual candidates would be allowed to contest membership of the Regional Representatives Council (DPD), which, together with the House, would form the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR).
"Although Article 22E, paragraph 4, allows individuals to be elected as DPD members, their total is just about one-third that of House members. The DPD also has little power to influence government policy," said Hadar, who is also a member of the Coalition for a New Constitution.
The Coalition highlighted crucial issues missed in the fourth and final amendment of the Constitution, passed by the MPR early on Sunday morning.
The amended Constitution failed to mention crucial auxiliary state institutions, such as the independent and permanent General Elections Commission (KPU), an anticorruption commission, the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) and the National Ombudsman.
Hadar argued that the inclusion of such state institutions in the Constitution, aside from the fact that their presence was stipulated under legislation, would give a stronger legal basis to their work in providing an appropriate system of checks and balances on the government.
Therefore, Hadar said, an independent constitutional commission had to be established to write a new comprehensive constitution.
Political observer Mochtar Pabotinggi agreed with Hadar's suggestion for the expedited formation of a constitutional commission, as stated in an MPR decree.