NGOs reject the work of the Constitutional Commission
NGOs reject the work of the Constitutional Commission
Kurniawan Hari, Jakarta
Just two days before it has to present its work to the People's
Consultative Assembly (MPR), the Constitutional Commission came
under fire for not synchronizing articles of the Constitution.
A number of non-governmental organizations (NGOs), grouped
under the Coalition for the New Constitution, said on Tuesday the
commission had not upgraded the Constitution.
"There are contradictions and inconsistencies in the academic
draft proposed by the commission," said Firmansyah Arifin from
the National Consortium for Legal Reform (KRHN).
The coalition, which consists of 32 NGOs, concluded the
Constitutional Commission had lost the momentum to create
guidelines for the development of democracy in the country.
Joining the rally were Smita Notosusanto of the Center for
Electoral Reform (CETRO), Binny Buchori of the International NGO
Forum on Indonesian Development (INFID), Usman Hamid from the
Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras),
Husna of the Indonesian Women's Coalition (KPI), and Bambang
Harymurti, the chief editor of Tempo magazine.
They also criticized the Constitutional Commission for not
allowing the public to participate in the process of
synchronizing articles of the Constitution.
They said the Constitutional Commission had not clarified that
the MPR would no longer be a permanent legislative body, but
simply a joint forum between the House of Representatives (DPR)
and the Regional Representatives Council (DPD).
The Constitutional Commission was also criticized for
proposing that presidential candidates would only need a simple
majority vote to win.
Under the current system, a presidential candidate and his or
her running mate must win more than 50 percent of the votes,
which are distributed among at least 16 provinces, with at least
20 percent of the votes in each province.
The coalition of NGOs said this would only encourage more
candidates to contest the presidential race. If that happened, a
candidate that gained 20 percent of the votes could be declared
the winner, despite a lack of legitimacy.
Meanwhile, Bambang Harymurti focused his criticism on the
Constitutional Commission's decision to remove the article on
press freedom from the Constitution.
Earlier, the commission had included an article to protect the
freedom of the press in the Constitution, which it later removed.
"There are signs of a strong tendency to again take away the
freedom of the press, which would be dangerous," he added.
The coalition suggested the MPR reject the works of the
Constitutional Commission and establish an independent commission
assigned to draft a new constitution.
The Constitutional Commission was set up in October last year
to assess and synchronize the amendments made by the MPR to the
Constitution, which many said were inconsistent and the result of
short-term political interests.
The 31-member Constitutional Commission was also criticized
for the absenteeism of its members.