Bintang drafts proposal to amend Constitution

Bintang drafts proposal to amend Constitution

By Achmad Nurhoeri

JAKARTA (JP): Defiant politician Sri Bintang Pamungkas has
drafted a proposal to amend the 1945 Constitution, the document
upon which the current political system is founded.

"If the system needs fixing, then the Constitution has to be
amended," Bintang told The Jakarta Post Wednesday.

"The 1945 Constitution no longer fits the present situation.
Even President Sukarno once said it was made in a hurry," he
said, referring to Indonesia's first president.

The 1945 Constitution can be amended by the People's
Consultative Assembly through a vote. A 1985 law however declares
that even if the assembly approves any amendments, they must be
put to a referendum.

Bintang's draft contains 140 articles, compared to 37 in the
1945 Constitution.

It proposes a maximum 10-year term limit for a president, and
is heavy on decentralization of power and civil rights.

It also seeks to transform the MPR into a body more like the
U.S. Congress, which consists of a House of Representatives and a
Senate.

His move to modify the Constitution is his latest political
maneuver in the face of imminent imprisonment.

Bintang was convicted at the Central Jakarta District Court in
May for insulting President Soeharto in speeches he gave during a
visit to Germany in 1995. The Jakarta High Court rejected his
appeal and confirmed the 34-month jail sentence.

He has since filed an appeal with the Supreme Court.

During the trial, Bintang was sacked from the House of
Representatives by his own faction, the United Development Party.

Last May, even after the court verdict, he founded, with a few
friends, the Indonesian Democratic Union Party (PUDI).

Although his party is excluded from taking part in this year's
general election, Bintang has announced his intention to run for
president in 1998.

Last week the 51-year-old former legislator lost a battle at
the Jakarta Administrative Court, which upheld Attorney General
Singgih's ban on him traveling overseas.

The 1945 Constitution -- enacted by the Committee for the
Preparation of Indonesia's Independence a day after Sukarno
proclaimed independence on Aug. 17, 1945 -- has never been
changed.

But it was shelved between 1949 and 1959. In 1949, Indonesia
adopted the Provisional Constitution of the Federal Republic of
the United States of Indonesia. A year later, it implemented the
1950 Provisional Constitution of the Republic of Indonesia. In
1959, Sukarno decreed a return to the 1945 Constitution.

Bintang's draft was prepared with his wife, PUDI deputy
chairman Julius Usman and PUDI general secretary Saleh Abdullah.

PUDI plans to disseminate the draft nationwide. "This draft is
open for revision," Bintang said.

Senior lawyer Adnan Buyung Nasution of the Indonesian Legal
Aid Foundation told the Post that he foresaw difficulties for
Bintang in his quest.

"But you know Bintang. He's gutsy and willing to struggle
unaccompanied," Buyung said.

Asked for his opinion of the Constitution, Adnan said: "I
believe the 1945 Constitution needs to be reviewed, but it would
be better if it were done within the state framework. It should
be discussed by other groups besides Bintang."