Inconsistency found in Constitution

Inconsistency found in Constitution

JAKARTA: The Constitutional Commission held a meeting on
Wednesday to hear the opinions of its members on the four
constitutional amendments conducted by the People's Consultative
Assembly between 1999 and 2003.

During the meeting presided over by commission chairman Sri
Sumantri, commission member Dahlan Thaib said he found some
conflicting articles in the amended Constitution.

Dahlan said the Constitution states the president and vice
president are elected by the people, but the Constitution does
not specify the same for governors and other heads of lower
regional administrations.

Direct presidential elections were approved in the second
amendment to the Constitution in 2000, but the third amendment a
year later failed to agree on the direct election of governors,
regents and mayors only because Law No. 22/1999 on regional
administration had not been revised. The law stipulates that
heads of regional administrations are elected by local
legislatures.-- JP