MPR to set up team to amend Constitution

MPR to set up team to amend Constitution

JAKARTA (JP): People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) Speaker
Amien Rais has responded positively to the proposal from
President Megawati Soekarnoputri to establish an independent
commission to amend the 1945 Constitution, but asserted that the
commission must be under the auspice of the Assembly.

Amien asserted on Wednesday that the authority to amend the
Constitution lies in the hands of the Assembly, not with the
executive body and therefore, the commission must be established
by the Assembly.

In fact, Amien added, the Assembly's 50-member working
committee in charge of amending the Constitution has been tasked
to make preparations for the proposed commission to be discussed
in detail at the Assembly's annual session scheduled for Nov. 1,
2001.

"Before being brought to the annual session, the working
committee will lobby all factions in the Assembly to receive
input on how the commission would be established and how the
amendment should be conducted," he told The Jakarta Post.

Amien said that he personally wanted the Assembly to recruit
experts from various disciplines and informal leaders instead of
party figures to fill the commission in order to maintain its
independence.

"We have constitutional law experts, religious figures,
sociologists, economists and informal leaders who understand the
founding fathers' thoughts and have a good vision of Indonesia.
They should be recruited in the commission," he said.

In her state-of-the-nation address on August 16, Megawati
proposed the establishment of a constitutional commission to take
note of people's views on an amendment and then draft the
amendment comprehensively and professionally. This draft would
then be reviewed and endorsed by the Assembly.

Former president Abdurrahman Wahid also proposed a similar
commission, but Amien was unresponsive to the proposal at that
time.

Separately, Jacob Tobing, chairman of the Assembly's ad hoc
committee in charge of constitutional amendment, said Megawati's
proposal to establish the commission came partly from the
Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan)'s
Assembly faction in order to prevent MPR from wasting time on
technical and procedural matters.

"If the proposal is accepted and the commission is established
in the November annual session, the commission will have one year
until 2002 to complete its task.

"The House of Representatives will have two years until 2004
to make new laws and revise the existing laws in line with the
amended Constitution so Indonesia is expected to not face any
further constitutional problems as of 2004," he said.

Jacob, also a legislator of PDI Perjuangan, the political
party that Megawati chairs, said he and his party would continue
to maintain several fundamental issues in the Constitution,
mainly the Constitution's preamble, the unitary state principle,
the indirect presidential election and the current electoral
system.

In contrast with Amien's proposal, Jacob suggested that the
Assembly should not only recruit experts but also party figures
with good ideas and a vision for Indonesia and its political
system to be members of the commission.

"They (party figures) should be included in the commission to
contribute their ideas and thoughts on how the Constitution
should be amended comprehensively," he said.

Meanwhile, Hadar N. Gumay from the Nongovernmental Coalition
for a New Constitution welcomed the plan to establish an
independent constitutional commission, but he gave some advice on
its establishment.

He suggested that politicians be barred from entering the
commission to prevent political infighting and any amendments
being based on short-term political interests. Instead,
representatives from all provinces and nonpolitical groupings be
included in the commission through an agreed, democratic
selection process.

Then, when the commission works, it should accommodate
feedback from society through various means such as seminars,
surveys, polling and so on. Then, the commission should produce a
draft amendment and inform the public so as to receive additional
input for further improvement. The findings would then be
presented to the Assembly for approval.

Hadar noted that the Assembly should not debate the draft,
because it would likely end up in political infighting and
compromise.

Instead, the Assembly should just approve the draft or reject
it altogether. When the draft is rejected, the next step would
involve returning to the beginning of the process again or by
taking a referendum.

"It's true it needs a long and winding process. But if we want
to have a Constitution that belongs to the people, we have to go
through all these democratic processes," Hadar said. (rms/rid)