Assembly working group blasted over constitutional amendments
Assembly working group blasted over constitutional amendments
JAKARTA (JP): A coalition of non-governmental organizations
has slammed a People's Consultative Assembly working group for
trying to draft constitutional amendments, which they claim were
laden with political interests, without proper public scrutiny.
The Civil Society Coalition for a Constitutional Commission,
in a statement here on Wednesday, charged that the working group
was, without transparency, deliberately conducting an amendment
of the 1945 Constitution.
The Coalition claimed that public participation on the
amendments was deliberately being impeded.
The current amendments being drafted are due to be brought
before the Assembly's annual session in August.
The Coalition pointed out that the working group had
established a Team of Experts as both justification and rubber
stamp to show that these proposals had been reviewed, in order to
push the amendments through without public scrutiny.
Without specifying the controversial draft articles, the
Coalition, in their statement, said that their previous proposal
in February to establish a Constitutional Commission to draft a
new constitution had been rejected by an Ad hoc Committee of the
working group. This was despite the fact that it had full
authority to carry out the drafting in a transparent and
participative manner.
Instead, the Ad hoc Committee established a limited Team of
Experts to give their opinions on the draft.
However, the scope of this new Team is severely limited and
has been given a tight deadline of March 29 to give their
opinions on the draft.
When the Team of Experts on Tuesday proposed they be given
greater authority to draft a new constitution, this was also
rejected by the Ad hoc Committee.
"In short, with the limited authority and time given, the Team
of Experts is merely being used as a tool to legitimize the
Assembly's work as if the Assembly had tried to conduct
amendments in an objective manner," the Coalition said.
The Coalition comprises 17 NGOs which include the Center for
Electoral Reform, the Independent Election Monitoring Committee,
Indonesian Corruption Watch, the Indonesian Legal Aid and Human
Rights Association and the Indonesian Forum for the Environment.
"How can the most basic and fundamental principles and laws of
the nation state be drafted under a cloak of secrecy and without
public participation?" the Coalition asserted.
In a three-point conclusion the Coalition asserted their
rejection of amendments conducted by the Assembly and demanded
that the forthcoming Assembly session establish a new
Constitutional Commission with full authority to draft a new
constitution.
They further called on the Team of Experts to withdraw any
support and participation from the Assembly's Working Group.
(mds)