Deadline draws closer for Constitutional Commission
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.