Constitutional amendment must go ahead as planned, says Amien
Constitutional amendment must go ahead as planned, says Amien
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) Speaker Amien Rais lashed
out on Tuesday at a fresh political attempt to block the on-going
amendment of the 1945 Constitution.
"Should the amendment of the constitution fail to materialize,
that would be a setback for our reform movement as it may lead to
a state administration crisis," said Amien after launching his
own website www.e-amienrais.com.
Amien made the remarks in response to the demand by some
scholars and legislators, grouped under the Forum for
Constitutional Studies (FKIK) on Monday, that the constitutional
amendment, currently being conducted by the MPR's ad hoc
committee for the constitution amendment (PAH I), be stopped on
the grounds that the process had been out of proportion.
Amien said failure to amend the constitution would be
dangerous since this could preserve the old evil practices, which
were harmful to democracy.
The ill effects stemming from that failure include, among
other things, that the president could be reelected a number of
times.
"Such a failure will also eliminate the new 22 human rights
articles, which are pro reform and quite comprehensive, set to be
included in the constitution," he said.
Amien's remarks apparently refer to the previous experience in
which former presidents Soeharto and Sukarno manipulated the
constitution to serve as dictators.
Amien said the amendment, stipulating that the president could
only serve two terms, was a must to prevent future dictatorships.
The plan to include the human rights articles is quite new and
refreshing, suggesting that the constitution respects human
rights.
Recognizing the ill effects stemming from the failure to amend
the constitution, Amien urged the scholars and legislators to
halt their politicking. "This attempt will merely turn back the
clock of history," he said.
Meanwhile, PAH I members vowed to continue their jobs despite
the protest from the scholars and legislators, including Amin
Aryoso from the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI
Perjuangan).
"The protest is normal. However, our work will continue," said
PAH I chairman Jacob Tobing of PDI Perjuangan after a meeting
with officials from the United Nations Development Program (UNDP)
here on Tuesday.
Fellow PAH I member Baharuddin Aritonang of Golkar said that
the amendment process would go on because it had been mandated by
the MPR through a decree.
He lashed out at Amin Aryoso, saying that his protest had
shown that the internal mechanism of PDI Perjuangan did not work
well.
"It will be better for Amin Aryoso to raise his aspirations
during the internal meeting of his party," Aritonang added.
Aritonang said the PAH I would disseminate the draft of the
fourth amendment to the public in the middle of this month in a
bid to held gather input.
"It is expected the fourth amendment would finish by July,"
Aritonang added.
Meanwhile, PDI Perjuangan considered the rejection from
several members of the party to continue the amendment process
as personal statements not representing the party.
The party's secretary general, Soetjipto, said on Tuesday that
the party still followed the democratic process at the MPR that
mandated the amendment of the constitution.
"So far the party has yet to decide any new policy on the
issue, but what its members are saying is a personal opinion and
not against party policy," Soetjipto said after the party's
weekly meeting.
"From the beginning we had stated that if possible we should
not amend the constitution, but the party decided to follow the
democratic process and support the amendment," Soetjipto
remarked.
PDI Perjuangan has always taken a conservative stance
concerning the amendment especially because Megawati is known as
a nationalist and the daughter of founding father Sukarno.