Baramuli enters debate over necessity of DPA
JAKARTA (JP): In response to suggestions that the Supreme Advisory Board (DPA) should be dissolved, chairman A.A. Baramuli said he would not mind if the people's representatives decided the body was no longer needed.
The board had been very important as an advisor to the president, he said on Thursday. He cited as example that in 1977 former president Soeharto requested the board chairman lead an investigation into allegations of corruption at the state-run oil company Pertamina.
"But if analysis from universities, such as that conveyed by the rector of Gadjah Mada University, says the board is no longer needed, (this must be discussed).
"Of course this needs to be settled according to the Constitution and be decided through the People's Consultative Assembly," Baramuli said, as quoted by Antara.
"And I don't mind if the board is dissolved by the peoples' representatives," he said.
On Wednesday the rector of the Yogyakarta-based Gadjah Mada University, Ichlasul Amal reiterated suggestions that the board should be dispersed because it was ineffective and overlapped with other state agencies.
The suggestion was one of the political recommendations raised last month by the university's team of political scientists, including Ichlasul himself.
Constitutional experts Harun Al Rasid of the University of Indonesia and Andi Muis of Hasanuddin University in Ujungpandang, also told The Jakarta Post on Thursday the board was no longer needed.
Muis said the board had lately become a government mouthpiece, citing Baramuli's defense of President B.J. Habibie's much- criticized presentation of a state award to his own wife in August.
Political scientist Arbi Sanit said the board's frequent statements had led to "unhealthy political pressure."
Before former president Soeharto resigned, the board "only justified anything the president wanted," Arbi said.
He did not suggest scrapping the board altogether, but said it should be made subordinate to the president. This, he said, would "simplify the political game".
The board's latest controversial statement was made on Wednesday when Baramuli said "stern action" should be immediately taken against ringleaders or those found funding demonstrations which could disturb the peace or disrupt the economy.
Ichlasul remarked that such statements "only hurt the people" in the midst of their new-found freedom.
Baramuli said that the board existed in the first place "because of the wish of the people," and that the People's Consultative Assembly would decide which agencies were no longer needed.
A former member of the National Commission for Human Rights, Baramuli described the board's importance, adding that former president Sukarno once led the board himself. Now, he said, "in my opinion the government of President B.J. Habibie also needs the Supreme Advisory Board."
Harun Alrasid acknowledged the board was mentioned in the 1945 Constitution but said it did not mean its existence was compulsory.
"Even if a state agency is in the Constitution, its formation depends on whether it is needed or not," Harun said, quoting the late legal professor Supomo, one of the Constitution's drafters. The Constitution states that the board functions as advisor to the president.
Harun suggested that the president's advisors should not be institutionalized, citing Habibie's advisors on economic affairs Frans Seda, Widjojo Nitisastro and Ali Wardhana.
He added that the position of vice president is in the 1945 Constitution but was unfilled at present. (01)