Constitutional Commission vows total reform

Kurniawan Hari, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The ad hoc Constitutional Commission proposed a thorough revision to all amendments made to the Constitution by the People's Consultative Assembly, despite its limited power.

Commission leaders said on Wednesday that the Constitution needed sweeping reforms to defuse legal confusion concerning the presidential system and the bicameral legislative system the country will adopt next year.

The Assembly formed the commission early this month and assigned it the task of synchronizing the amendments, not revising them. The commission will report to the Assembly at the end of its seven-month term.

"We will reform the amendments. It means there will be some changes to the principles," commission deputy chairman Albert Hasibuan said.

Citing an example, Albert said the commission would revise articles concerning the authority of the Constitutional Court.

The amended Constitution says the Constitutional Court will assess a motion filed by the House of Representatives with the court due to alleged violations or misconduct committed by the president.

The Constitution stipulates that the Assembly can overrule the court's ruling.

Albert asserted that for the sake of the supremacy of law, the article should be amended to enable the Constitutional Court to deliver a final and binding verdict.

The commission's other deputy chairman, Ishak Latuconsina, said politicians in the Assembly might not be happy with the reform ideas.

"We hope the Assembly will accept our proposal. It is, however, up to the Assembly," he said.

Ishak, who chairs a subcommission in charge of studying the input from all commission members, revealed the commission had agreed to produce two reports at the end of its term in April next year.

The first report, he said, would be a comprehensive academic study of the amended Constitution and the second one would comprise recommended revisions to the amendments.

Ishak said there were about 30 articles considered to be full of flaws.

Among the focus of attention will be the pseudo-bicameral parliamentary system.

Ishak disclosed that several commission members had questioned the unclear parliamentary system. They proposed changing the pseudo-bicameral legislative system into a fully fledged bicameral system.

The amended Constitution introduced the establishment of the Regional Representatives Council (DPD), which along with the House will form the Assembly.

But unlike the bicameral system adopted in other countries, the Constitution considers the DPD weaker than the House.

The ad hoc Constitutional Commission also proposed the establishment of a permanent commission to conduct more systematic changes to the Constitution in the future.