Amien backs adoption of new constitution

Kurniawan Hari, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) Speaker Amien Rais supported on Wednesday public calls for the establishment of an independent commission in charge of drafting a new constitution, saying that the existing Constitution was in need of total overhaul.

Amien, who was speaking in his capacity as a legislator, emphasized the importance of recognizing that the current Constitution was a transitional or interim document that was intended to be changed.

"We must convince the public that we're badly in need of either a complete overhaul or a new constitution," Amien said during a meeting with activists from the Coalition of Non- Governmental Organizations (Ornop), and scholars at his office here.

The coalition, consisting of 62 NGOs, has been campaigning for the establishment of an independent commission to draft a new constitution since 2000.

"We are of one mind. I also want an improved constitution," Amien said.

After the enactment of the fourth constitutional amendment in August, Amien said, the amendment process could be entrusted to MPR members chosen in the 2004 election or an independent commission, whose establishment could be organized this year.

Amien hoped that after the fourth amendment in August, there would be a better thought-out, better planned and better conceived draft constitution prepared by the independent commission.

For the establishment of the independent commission, the MPR would have to amend Articles 3 and 37 of the Constitution.

Article 3 gives a mandate to the MPR to amend the Constitution while Article 37 describes the procedures for the amendment of the Constitution by the MPR.

However, Amien, who chairs the country's fifth largest party, the National Mandate Party (PAN), warned of strong resistance from both legislators and other groups in society.

A lecturer from Padang-based Andalas University, Saldi Isra, who participated in the meeting with Amien, said that the resistance to constitutional reform had become a serious threat as it had won the backing of the military.

"The military is the group that most rejects the constitutional amendment process as it will be disadvantageous for them," he said.

Todung Mulya Lubis, who headed the delegation, reiterated that the MPR should give a mandate to an independent commission to deal with the amendment of the Constitution.

He said the amendment process undertaken by the MPR over the last three years had lacked a clear concept. Thus, the task should be handed over to an independent commission.

The commission would consist of 99 members, including two representatives from each of the country's provinces, and academics.

"The existence of a constitutional commission is a sine qua non for thorough reform," Todung said.

Once again warning of the hard struggle ahead, Amien said that several groups had tried to block the amendment process and the proposal for the establishment of a commission.

"The progressive camp supporting constitutional amendment, for example, has been blocked by the conservative group," Amien said.

Several other groups, including the Movement for Parliamentary Virtue (GNP) and the Constitutional Studies Forum (FKIK), have also aggressively campaigned to block the amendment process.

The GNP, led by Amin Aryoso of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan), claims that the amendments that have been adopted have gone to far, while the FKIK, headed by veteran scholar Usep Ranawijaya, says that the amendment process has led the country to the brink of collapse.