Constitutional commission bid moves forward

Kurniawan Hari S., The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

To break the deadlock in the deliberation on constitutional reform, Golkar Party has proposed that the amendment of the 1945 Constitution be entrusted to a special committee.

The constitutional amendment is currently being deliberated by an ad hoc committee attached to the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR). The debate has stalled because all party factions have fiercely stuck to their rigid stance.

The ad hoc committee is racing against time to come up with an agreement among the various party factions at the MPR about the need to amend the Constitution in next month's annual session.

Golkar was the fourth faction that intended to create an institution for the amendment after the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan), the United Development Party (PPP) and the National Awakening Party (PKB).

"Golkar faction is disappointed with the deliberation process and we think it's time to make a breakthrough," said Slamet Effendy Yusuf, an ad hoc committee member from the Golkar faction.

Golkar, the second largest party after PDIP, proposed that the national committee be given a wide range of authorities to outline constitutional amendment.

Golkar envisions the committee to comprise 85 members, which would consist of 30 from the MPR, 15 academics, 10 community/NGO leaders and 30 representatives from the provinces.

Slamet said the number of MPR members to sit on the committee would be in proportion to the political parties they represent. So PDIP would have the most representatives, followed by Golkar.

"Representatives from the academic community would be selected by the MPR in a transparent process," he said.

Golkar's proposal received praise from Hadar N. Gumay from the Center for Electoral Reform (Cetro) though he was also afraid that the proposed committee's independence would be questionable because of the involvement of MPR members.

"We like the proposal but we will first have to wait to be assured that the committee will have the capacity to do its job," Hadar told The Jakarta Post.

Hadar's criticism of Golkar's idea is that the would-be committee does not seem to adequately accommodate public participation.

Cetro, one of the nongovernmental organizations that has been campaigning for total reform of the 1945 Constitution, which they say is outdated.

It has proposed an independent constitutional commission comprising scholars and community figures without representatives from political parties or the MPR.