MPR considers revision of amended Constitution

Berni K. Moestafa and Kurniawan Hari, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Three years after the first amendment to the 1945 Constitution, the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) is now set to consider revising amendments agreed upon earlier to ensure consistency with the latest amendments.

Secretary to the MPR committee in charge of the amendment process, Ali Masykur Musa of the National Awakening faction, said some of the earlier amended articles lacked coherence with the current revision.

He said suggestions then came up to revise articles under the first amendment in 1999 to the third amendment last year.

"We're considering a revision that will lead to a more comprehensive and systematic amendment to the Constitution," Ali said.

Among the disputed items, Ali said, were Chapter 18 which stipulates that governors, regency heads and mayors are not directly elected by the people.

"Since we have agreed on a direct presidential election, it seems odd now that governors are not directly elected," he said.

Also questionable, he said, was chapter 22 for lacking clarity whether the presidential election should be held at the same time or after the legislative election.

Another chapter was 28-I, which prevents a law from implicating individuals with crimes that occurred before the law was set up. The new chapter from the second amendment process has blocked criminal charges against human rights abuses.

Ali Masykur said proposed revisions to the three amendment packages would be presented before the MPR Annual Session in August.

"The Annual Session will decide whether to accept the proposals under the fourth amendment, or postpone their debates until next year," he explained.

Attempts to revise them now comes amid recent criticism that the committee lacked clear vision of the amendment process, while haggling over short-term political interests also clouded their views.

Committee member Theo L. Sambuaga of the Golkar faction said the revision was not a setback if it produced a better Constitution.

But Lukman Hakim Saifuddin of the United Development faction said latecomers to the committee criticized the earlier amendments.

He said several legislators called into question articles without understanding their context, although some proposals proved to be necessary. "Committee members should be those who have been participating since the very start of the first amendment," he said.

Executive director of the Center for Electoral Reform (Cetro) Smita Notosusanto said the plans to revise earlier amendments showed the MPR lacked a clear vision to amend the Constitution.

She said debates over the military's political representatives in the MPR until 2009 further showed the ongoing amendment put aside reform demands over political interests. "This shows the Assembly can't carry out constitutional reform."

Smita, a lecturer in the political science department at University of Indonesia, has been arguing for an independent commission to take over constitutional reform talks from the MPR. "The commission should be tasked to draft a brand new Constitution," she said.

Committee secretary Ali said that debates now centered on the transitional and supplementary regulations of the Constitution.

"We are trying to avoid gaps in the law that may stir up problems later in terms of relationships between state institutions," he said.

The committee, he said, would hold closed door meetings with constitutional experts before wrapping up talks in mid July, and any unresolved issues would be taken up at the Annual Session.