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."