MPR urged to set up constitutional court

MPR urged to set up constitutional court

JAKARTA (JP): Law experts called on the People's Consultative
Assembly (MPR) here on Wednesday to establish a constitutional
court that would have full authority to make a judicial review of
the Constitution.

J. Sahetapy, a professor of law at Airlangga University in
Surabaya, East Java, said an independent court was badly needed
to avoid conflicting interpretations of the Constitution and any
conflict resulting from such interpretations.

"We should learn from the recent conflict between the House of
Representatives and former president Abdurrahman Wahid regarding
the House's investigation into Buloggate and Bruneigate and on
the People's Consultative Assembly convening a special session
recently," he said.

Buloggate, which was a Rp 35 billion (US$3.8 million) scandal
at the State Logistics Agency (Bulog), and controversy
surrounding a $2 million donation from the sultan of Brunei
prompted the House of Representatives to form a special committee
to investigate the cases.

Based on the committee's recommendation, the House of
Representatives (DPR) later issued two motions of censure against
Abdurrahman. Ultimately, the MPR held the special session that
removed him from office on July 23.

Abdurrahman charged that the House did not have the right to
censure him or to remove him.

"The conflict between the House and Abdurrahman escalated
because of the absence of a constitutional court designed to
correct misinterpretation of the Constitution," he told The
Jakarta Post.

Sahetapy also recalled abuses of the Constitution by former
president Soeharto with the aim of maintaining the status quo
during the 32-year New Order government. He said such a thing
should no longer happen.

He explained that the Supreme Court could not do a judicial
review of the Constitution because, according to the
Constitution, its position is on a par with that of the House.

Asked about his comments on the Assembly's plan to set up a
constitutional commission to help amend the Constitution,
Sahetapy said both the government and the MPR should have a
common understanding on the concept of the commission and its
tasks and members because it was not regulated in the
Constitution.

The issue ensued after President Megawati Soekarnoputri
stressed in her state-of-the-nation speech on Aug. 16, 2001 the
importance of establishing an institution in charge of amending
the 1945 Constitution.

"The President's proposal is not bad but she should give a
detailed explanation about the commission, its tasks and its
members to avoid confusion among the people and scholars," he
said.

Sahetapy, also a legislator of the Indonesian Democratic Party
of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan), said the commission's main task
should be making comprehensive amendments to the Constitution.
Its members should be professionals from universities, the
executive body and the House of Representatives, he said.

He said he was against the idea of constitutional commission
members consisting of scholars because their status was not a
guarantee that they were impartial or independent.

"Most important is that the commission's members must leave
their political interests behind and work professionally to make
comprehensive amendments so that the Constitution can last or be
workable for at least three decades," he said.

Dymiaty Hartono, a professor of law at Diponegoro University
in Semarang, Central Java, said that besides amending the
Constitution, the constitutional commission should also be given
the authority to interpret the Constitution and to solve
conflicts stemming from the misinterpretation of the
Constitution.

"A constitutional commission should have been established at
the start of the application of the Constitution because the
Constitution is too simple and unworkable," he said. (rms)