MPR forces military out, allows people to elect president

Ahmad Junaidi and Fitri Wulandari, The Jakarta Post

The People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) officially closed its extended Annual Session on Sunday, applauding constitutional changes to force the military and the police out of the legislature and allow voters to elect the president directly in 2004.

The 700-member MPR also rejected calls for the inclusion of sharia in the Constitution and dropped the racist wording of pribumi and non-pribumi from an MPR decree.

The MPR, nevertheless, failed to incorporate the much-demanded constitutional commission into the amended Constitution, but referred to it in an MPR decree.

Speaking after the closure of the Annual Session, MPR Speaker Amien Rais said that the MPR, under his leadership, had accomplished its mission in amending the 1945 Constitution.

"The first to the fourth amendment of the 1945 Constitution have been approved. This is a giant stride," Amien told reporters.

He explained that the "giant stride" was the direct presidential election and the abolition of nonelected representatives of the Indonesian Military, National Police and interest groups.

With the amended Constitution, Amien said, "The TNI and Police will become professional state security and defense forces ... and no longer involved in day-to-day politics."

"We must be thankful to God that the next president and vice president will be directly elected by the people," he said.

Activists welcome the MPR's ability to force the TNI out of the legislature and also initiate a direct presidential election for 2004.

Hadar N. Gumay from the Center for Electoral Reform (Cetro) said, "Directly electing the president is great in terms of giving back sovereignty to the people of Indonesia instead of giving it to the MPR."

All the measures endorsed on Saturday through early Sunday morning were adopted by consensus rather than open ballot, to avoid any side being seen as publicly defeated.

Only a few guests remained in their seats late on Saturday, apart from reporters covering the session. On the diplomatic balcony, British Ambassador Richard Gozney and Portuguese Ambassador Ana Gomes were the last foreign envoys left in the gallery.

The Annual Session, which was initially scheduled to be closed on Saturday, was extended to Sunday due to heated debate by legislators on the constitutional commission.

The TNI/Police and National Awakening Party (PKB) factions insisted, late on Saturday, on including the establishment of the constitutional commission in the amended Constitution.

TNI/Police faction chairman Maj. Gen. Slamet Supriyadi even walked to the podium and proposed that the current fourth amendment of the Constitution be applied only until 2004.

The proposal was rejected by many legislators, mostly from the Reform faction as that would have turned the current amended Constitution into a transitional one.

"It was feared that if the constitutional commission could not complete its work, there would be a constitutional vacuum," Amien said.

After being suspended several times for lobbying, the TNI faction agreed to revoke its proposal. The Assembly then decided to establish the constitutional commission through an Assembly decree.

MPR decree No. I/MPR/2002 tasks the Assembly's working committee to prepare the establishment of an independent constitutional commission within a period of six months to one year to synchronize and improve the amended Constitution.

Some constitutional advocates, however, expressed doubts that the MPR was sincere about establishing such a commission.

Bambang Widjojanto from the Coalition for a New Constitution suspected that if the political interests of some major parties were in danger, they could easily demand the MPR revoke the decree.

"It's possible that the constitutional commission will not be set up next year as the decree could easily be revoked. It would be stronger if the commission were included in the Constitution," Bambang, former chairman of the Indonesian Legal Aid Institute Foundation, told The Jakarta Post.

Amien, nevertheless, gave an assurance that the MPR decree should provide a strong legal basis for the establishment of the constitutional commission and that it would not be revoked.

"Now, please note that MPR Speaker Amien Rais states that the MPR decree will not be revoked," Amien told reporters on Sunday at the MPR building.

Meanwhile, Hadar criticized the MPR for failing to incorporate public participation into the amendment process.

"The MPR has rejected public participation in the amendment process," Hadar told the Post on Sunday.

He said the Constitution ought to include several independent bodies, such as the independent and permanent General Elections Commission (KPU), an anticorruption commission, the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) and the National Ombudsman.

"The MPR is not prepared to share aspects of its authority with the public via those institutions," he said.

Selected articles from the amended 1945 Constitution passed by the MPR early on Sunday:

1. Article 2 (1): The MPR shall comprise the House of Representatives and Regional Representatives Council, both of which are to be elected in a general election.

2. Article 6A (4) (on the direct, second-round presidential election): In the event that no president and vice president are elected in the first round, the president and vice president shall be elected directly by the people from the two pairs of candidates that have received most votes in the first round of the election. The pair that receives the most votes in the second round shall be declared president and vice president.

3. Article 16 (on the Supreme Advisory Council): The president shall establish a supreme advisory council, the main task of which is to provide advice and recommendations to the president.

4. Article 23D (on the central bank): The state shall have a central bank whose composition, responsibilities and independence shall be established by law.

5. Article 29 (1): The state shall be based on one supreme God. (Original text).

6. Article 29 (2): The state shall guarantee the freedom of every citizen to adhere to and observe his or her own religion and beliefs. (Original text).

7. Article 31 (4): The state shall give priority to the education budget, which shall account for a minimum of 20 percent of state and regional budgets, to meet the costs of national education.