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.