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)