'Fourth amendment designed for synchronization'
Kurniawan Hari, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
A number of People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) members on Wednesday welcomed a proposal from scholars that the Assembly should synchronize amendments made to the 1945 Constitutional in the past three years.
However, they rejected suggestions that the fourth amendment scheduled for August be aborted.
The legislators insisted that the fourth amendment to be endorsed in August was part of efforts to synchronize and to make systematic the first, second, and third amendments to the Constitution.
"We are preparing the fourth amendment as well as synchronization of the first, second, and third amendments," said Jacob Tobing, chairman of the Assembly's ad hoc committee for amendments (PAH 1).
Jacob, of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan), acknowledged that there were some inconsistencies in the past amendments, therefore the legislators would advance the final structure of amendment.
Yusuf Muhammad of the National Awakening Party (PKB) and Baharuddin Aritonang of Golkar agreed, saying that the fourth amendment to be pursued during the Assembly's Annual Session in August would function as a forum to synchronize the amendments.
"The fourth amendment would be the most important and strategic process and closely linked to the past amendments," said Yusuf who chairs the PKB faction in the Assembly.
Last month, members of PAH I suggested revising some of the past amendments, saying several articles lacked coherence.
Aritonang added that the fourth amendment was also expected to complete unfinished articles.
They include articles on the structure of the Assembly as well as on direct presidential elections.
The three legislators were responding to suggestions from scholars during a workshop organized by the alumni body of Gadjah Mada University (Kagama).
The scholars recommended that during its Annual Session in August, the Assembly must ensure the previous three amendments do not contradict each other.
Head of the workshop's commission in charge of the amendment process J. Kristiadi told participants that the Assembly should only synchronize and make systematic the past amendments.
Kagama's head Ichlasul Amal recommended that the fourth amendment be aborted due to increasing public resistance.
The public, mainly the coalition for a New Constitution, claimed that the amendment process carried out by politicians in the Assembly lacked a clear platform.
They charged politicians had put forward their own political interests during the amendment process. Therefore, the amendment was short-sighted as well as elitist.
Legislators, however, have denied the allegations, saying that they invited independent scholars to comment on the amendments.
"They claim the amendment lacks a clear platform, but they themselves don't understand what they're talking about," Jacob added.
Jacob said that although the deliberation in the PAH 1 was partial, the whole process of amendment to the Constitution was comprehensive.
Calls to set up an independent commission to take over the amendment process had yet to gain wide support within the Assembly.
The country's largest party, PDI-Perjuangan supported the idea of a constitutional reforms commission though he said it should not be independent.