Golkar's move on security decree meets opposition
Golkar's move on security decree meets opposition
JAKARTA (JP): Four lawyers' organizations opposed yesterday
Golkar's motion to reintroduce a decree giving the president
preemptive powers against subversive activities, saying it would
be a breach of the 1945 Constitution.
The four organizations -- the Foundation of the Indonesian
Legal Aid Institute (YLBHI), the Indonesian Bar Association
(Ikadin), the Indonesian Advocates Association (AAI), and the
Indonesian Lawyers Association (IPHI) -- sent a joint statement
yesterday to the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR).
The statement argues that the president's current authority as
head of state and government and the highest military commander,
is already extensive.
The government, they added, frequently applies a number of law
instruments such as martial law, the subversion law and the
presidential decree on the Agency for the Coordination of Support
for the Development of National Stability to control political
activities.
"Therefore, the reintroduction of the decree of preemptive
power would be excessive and contradict the 1945 Constitution,"
they said.
They argued the 1945 Constitution bears the idea of people's
sovereignty which limits the government's power, as stipulated in
the first article of the constitution which states that
sovereignty should be in the hands of the people.
"If the Assembly endorses Golkar's motion and fails to adopt
the decree on human rights, I could not imagine how powerful the
government will be," YLBHI's chairman Bambang Widjojanto told the
Jakarta Post yesterday.
Bambang said he was concerned the government would be more
prone to human rights violations if the Assembly adopted the
decree.
Earlier this week, political observer Arbi Sanit told the
United Development Party's (PPP) faction in the Assembly his
surveys concluded that the government apparatus is prone to human
rights violations.
A delegation led by Bambang representing the legal aid and
human rights protection institutes urged the PPP faction in the
Assembly Tuesday to continue its efforts to make its draft of
human rights charter a decree.
PPP, and fellow minority faction the Indonesian Democratic
Party (PDI), demanded an Assembly decree on human rights.
But the dominant Golkar faction and its traditional allies,
the Armed Forces and regional representatives factions, rejected
the idea saying human rights principles should be incorporated in
the State Policy Guidelines instead. (10)