More experts join call for new constitution

More experts join call for new constitution

Jupriadi Asmaradhana, The Jakarta Post, Makassar

Two experts have joined in the chorus of non-governmental
organizations (NGOs) by calling for a new constitution amid the
uncertain future of amendments being made to the 1945
Constitution.

Lawyer Adnan Buyung Nasution said at a seminar here on
Saturday that it would be better for the nation to craft a
totally new constitution, one that recognized changes brought
about during the reform era, rather than allow the political
elite to fail due to dispute over crucial matters in the
Constitution.

"Instead of bickering over amendments to the Constitution, it
would be better for the nation to make a new constitution, one
far better than the current one," he said at the seminar
organized by the Golkar Party's South Sulawesi office.

An alliance of NGOs grouped in the Center for Electoral Reform
(Cetro) has called for an independent commission to design a new
constitution that would serve the nation well into the future.
Cetro claims that the Assembly will not be able to amend the
Constitution because of individuals' vested interests.

Amendment to the Constitution appears to be in danger of
stalling due to conflicting interests over crucial matters in the
Constitution on the part of factions within the People
Consultative Assembly.

Besides facing internal division, the Indonesian Democratic
Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan) opposes the proposal of other
major factions that direct presidential electoral and district
electoral systems be adopted, saying the nation was not ready for
it.

Buyung, who composed a thesis on the 1945 Constitution to
obtain his doctorate degree, said that because of the deadlock in
the amendment talks, it would be better to hold a referendum to
allow the people to choose which system to adopt.

Historian Anwar Gonggong said the nation should return to the
interim constitution (UUDS) which he said was more democratic
than the 1945 Constitution.

"The interim constitution had 26 chapters on human rights and
six chapters on communal rights," he said.

Both Buyung and Anhar were of the opinion that the new
constitution should adopt the current one's preamble to maintain
the unitary stage and its ideology.

Indria Samego, a political observer from the National
Institute of Sciences (LIPI), called on politicians, especially
factions at the Assembly, to put aside their political interests
in amending the Constitution.