Crisis looms as reform to Constitution stagnates

Crisis looms as reform to Constitution stagnates

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Regardless of the outcome of the current and final phase of
amendments to the Constitution, Indonesia is likely to plunge
into a constitutional crisis if amendments to the 1945
Constitution are still carried out by current members of the
People's Consultative Assembly (MPR).

And, the only way to spare Indonesia from another crisis is
for the MPR to set up an independent commission consisting of
nonpartisan experts and representatives from each regency to
either amend the 1945 Constitution or draft a new one, experts
say.

But even if the MPR completes its deliberation of the
Constitution before the August deadline, the amended Constitution
is likely to be full of political compromises.

Legal practitioner Todung Mulya Lubis expressed skepticism on
Sunday over the outcome of the current amendment to the
Constitution as the process was rife with horse-trading between
the political parties.

In the third amendment last year, the MPR agreed that
presidential and vice-presidential candidates should be nominated
by political parties or a coalition of political parties. The
article, according to Todung, gives no opportunity for
independent candidates to run in the presidential elections.

"This is an example of horse-trading among political parties
in the Assembly whereby no opportunity is given to an independent
candidate," Todung told The Jakarta Post on Sunday.

Jimly Ashiddiqie of the University of Indonesia concurred with
Todung, saying that there had been indications of "backdoor
dealings" among political parties in the amendment process.

He emphasized that one of the demands raised during the reform
movement in 1998 was a direct presidential election.

"Should deliberations on that (the direct presidential
election) issue remain uncertain, it would show to the public
that the legislators are not carrying out the mandate of the
reform movement," Jimly told the Post on Sunday.

Current MPR members, who are mostly remnants from the New
Order regime, seem to be more keen in fighting for their narrow,
short-term political interests than carrying out genuine
improvement to the country's archaic Constitution, one of the
ultimate goals of the reform movement.

As political parties continue to cling to their interests, the
current amendment deliberations are moving at a snail's pace,
raising fears that the constitutional reforms will not be
completed by August, when the MPR is expected to endorse the
changes in its annual meeting.

Six months after MPR members were given the go-ahead to pursue
the constitutional reforms, only six of 18 targeted articles have
been deliberated.

Theoretically, the MPR can still complete the deliberation of
the bills in the next four months, but given conflicting
interests in the remaining 12 articles, it is very unlikely that
MPR members can do it.

A deadlock in the deliberations would not only stall
constitutional reforms, but also render amendments agreed earlier
useless as they could not be implemented.

In the third phase of amendment last year, for example, the
Assembly agreed to adopt the direct presidential election. In the
current stage, MPR members were supposed to decide on what to do
if no presidential aspirants garnered the votes required to win
the post.

President Megawati Soekarnoputri's Indonesian Democratic Party
of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan) have proposed that MPR members would
elect the president and vice president, while Golkar and other
political parties preferred to organize a fresh round of
elections.

It could also mean that the bill on general elections, which
is currently being finalized by the government, could not be
submitted to the House of Representatives (DPR) for deliberation
as the draft was made based on the assumption that Indonesia
would adopt a direct presidential election in 2004.

And a failure to enact the general elections into law means
that Indonesia would have to use the district system in the next
general elections, with the MPR, a super-institution that in the
past always betrayed the people's aspiration, still in place.

Todung reiterated that an independent commission was urgently
needed to take over responsibility for the amendment.

"Such an independent commission is not only to avoid horse-
trading, but also to encourage public participation in the
amendment process," Todung added.