Constitutional Commission vows total reform

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.