Revision of the 1945 Constitution

According to a media report, a seminar on "Revision of the Constitution of 1945 as continuation of the reform drive in the legal sector" has proposed that a state team for the revision of the 1945 Constitution be set up. While some of the articles in the Constitution should indeed be revised, the preamble must be maintained.

Obviously the 1945 Constitution cannot keep up with the demands of the present-day Indonesian community. This Constitution was devised to meet a temporary need during the period of physical struggle to defend the proclamation of the independence of Indonesia. The provisions are therefore very brief and simple. They are incomplete and allow too great a power to the president of the Republic of Indonesia so that the president can immediately act in a state of emergency to defend the nation. This is truly understandable. However, circumstances have changed now and Indonesians will have to deal with very different challenges in future. That's why the 1945 Constitution needs revising.

In this respect, however, I do not agree to the establishment of a state team for the revision of the 1945 Constitution by the present administration under President B.J. Habibie and the New Order elements. I do not trust them. I do not believe that they will introduce total reform and changes in political and constitutional affairs. I am pretty sure they still nurture their vested interests to maintain the status quo in the interest of their own groups. Therefore, I propose that after the June 7, 1999 elections, a coalition of three proreform major political parties, the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan) the National Mandate Party (PAN) and the National Awakening Party (PKB), for example, should set up a committee for the revision of the 1945 Constitution. This team should have as its members not only experts belonging to these three parties but also independent experts or those from other political parties. The formulation devised by this committee should later be deliberated in the 1999 General Session of the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR), which will be formed as a result of the June 7 elections. Then the MPR General Session could stipulate the formulation of amendment to the 1945 Constitution.

The MPR for the 1999/2004 period should also set up its executive standing committee, which would be on duty permanently. This committee could be assigned to formulate the State Policy Guidelines and important decrees of the Assembly. A plenary session of the MPR, for example, could be held six months after the General Session and could be assigned to ratify the decrees. The MPR must also exercise control over all of the state's highest institutions so that irregularities in relation to power and the law can easily be addressed. There must be an institution that has the authority to conduct judicial review of the country's laws. Please see to it that in future the Republic of Indonesia will be run in a more democratic, more honest and fairer manner and also in a way that shows that human rights and the people's interests are properly respected and taken into account. Corruption, collusion and nepotism must be wiped out from Indonesia.

SUHARSONO HADIKUSUMO

Jakarta