Experts propose reduction of MPR power
Kurniawan Hari, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Experts have hailed a proposal by the Constitutional Commission to strip the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) of its power to amend the Constitution.
Politicians, according to the experts, must not be involved in the amendment of the Constitution so as to avoid potential conflicts of interest.
"Involving the politicians in the amendment process will only create problems due to conflicting interests," Andalas University lecturer Saldi Isra told The Jakarta Post Wednesday.
Saldi suggested that the commission promote the establishment of an independent body to oversee the constitutional amendment process.
Meanwhile, Smita Notosusanto from the Center for Electoral Reform (Cetro) said that constitutional amendments should be carried out by an independent body whose members were not affiliated to any political party.
"The new body should be mandated to create a brand new constitution," Smita said.
Both Saldi and Smita were commenting on the commission's proposal to abolish the role of the MPR in the constitutional amendment process.
Commission deputy chairman Albert Hasibuan said last Tuesday that amendments to the 1945 Constitution should require national referendums.
However, he did not say who or which state institutions should have the right to draft constitutional amendments before they were put to the public.
Under the existing system, the Assembly, the country's highest legislative body, has the sole power to amend the constitution.
The MPR enacted a draft of amendments to the 1945 Constitution last year, but experts have criticized them as being fraught with contradictions and beholden to short-term political interests.
That prompted the Assembly to establish the Constitutional Commission, with its main duty being to harmonize the amendments made thus far to the 1945 Constitution. The Assembly, however, still has the final say over an proposals the commission makes.
Saldi said that constitutional amendments must be the responsibility of an independent body that would submit its work to the Assembly for approval.
"If the Assembly rejects the work of the commission, the amendment in question should then be put to a nationwide referendum," Saldi said.
Apart from scrapping the Assembly's power to amend the country's basic law, the commission has also proposed deleting human rights articles from the Constitution.
According to the commission, human rights should be governed by law, rather than being set in stone in the Constitution.
But Saldi and Smita both maintained that the articles on human rights must be retained.
According to Smita, if they were to be deleted, there could well be an increase in human rights abuses, Smita said.
"In many modern states, human rights are also enshrined in their constitutions," she said.
She also criticized the proposal of the Constitutional Commission that some of the jurisdiction of the Constitutional Court be hived off to the Supreme Court.
These would include the jurisdiction to resolve electoral disputes and disputes between state institutions, and to dissolve political parties.
Smita argued that handing over of these powers would only increase the pressure on the Supreme Court, which was still laboring under a backlog of 15,000 cases.