Amien Rais to get UMY Award

Amien Rais to get UMY Award

YOGYAKARTA: Yogyakarta Muhammadiyah University (UMY) is to
present People's Consultative Assembly Speaker Amien Rais with
its "2002 UMY Award", for what is said was Amien's role in
reforming the Indonesian political system and his central role in
amending the 1945 Constitution.

UMY Rector Khoirudin Bashori said Wednesday that the award was
the first of what would be an annual award ceremony to honor
reform figures.

"Constitutional amendment was considered impossible in the
past, but it is now a reality. The successful completion of
constitutional amendments, as we see it, cannot be separated from
the central role of Pak Amien as the Assembly's speaker,"
Khoirudin said, adding the decision was made during the
university's senate meeting on Sept. 25, 2002.

He said Amien elegantly accommodated the demands of
legislators wishing to insert Syariah law in Article 29 of the
Constitution and finally left the article unchanged. --JP