Deadline draws closer for Constitutional Commission

Kurniawan Hari, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Members of the Constitutional Commission (KK) have agreed to allocate more time for a thorough assessment of the amended Constitution and pledged to finish a rough draft of an alternative constitution by the end of January.

The commission's deputy chairman Albert Hasibuan said the 31- member institution would meet more frequently to produce the academic draft and revisions of the amendments.

"We have set a target, without having to compromise on the quality of our assessment," Albert told the press on the sidelines of a commission meeting here on Monday.

It was the first plenary meeting since the commission members took a two-week holiday.

The commission members are mostly experts from outside the city, and their term will end in April. Based on a decree of the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR), the commission must submit an accountability report to the Assembly by this April.

Another commission deputy chairman Ishak Latuconsina explained that the commission had been divided into two smaller working groups, one in charge of producing an academic draft of a new constitution and another conducting the revisions.

The commission has come under fire for failing to get organized. It was established officially three months ago, but still has not produced a clear schedule or plan of action.

Lawmakers agreed to form the commission with the main task of evaluating the amended Constitution, which many consider to be full of flaws.

Albert said the commission would have finished the assessment by the end of January. The commission will use the remaining time in February and March to synthesize all of the possibly conflicting articles, he added.

He added that the commission had been assessing 16 of the 37 articles in the Constitution.

Ishak said the two working groups would intensify communication and consultation in a bid to prevent discrepancies between the academic draft and the revision.

"We will try to minimize disharmony between the academic draft and the revision. The substance of the two issues will be discussed at our next plenary meeting," he said.

Meanwhile, data from the Assembly secretariat shows that average attendance rate of the commission in each meeting is only about 63 percent. The data also reveals that six commission members have turned up a less than half the sessions.

The poor attendance is perhaps not surprising, as most of the commission members that were appointed have conflicting commitments. Some commission members have been nominated as legislative candidates by political parties, for instance.