Scholars suggest permanent constitutional commission

Scholars suggest permanent constitutional commission

Fitri Wulandari and
Tertiani ZB Simanjuntak
The Jakarta Post
Jakarta

The alumni association of Gadjah Mada University (Kagama)
urged on Tuesday that the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR)
insert a clause on the establishment of a constitutional
commission in the draft amendment of Article 37 of the
Constitution to provide a strong legal basis for the commission.

"This is crucial to give a constitutional basis to the
commission. The amended article will also provide a binding force
for the government and the House of Representatives to form the
commission," Kagama chairman Ichlasul Amal told a media briefing
at the MPR building.

By inserting the clause on the commission in the draft, the
government and the House of Representatives would be bound to
issue a regulation on the establishment of the commission as a
permanent body, Kagama said.

According to Kagama, there are three means of setting up the
commission: first, through the amendment of Article 37, second,
through a transitional regulation, and third through an MPR
decree. The alumni association proposed that the MPR amend the
article, which would require that the government and the House
issue a regulation on the commission. A commission established
based on the regulation would have more power than one set up
under a transitional regulation or an MPR decree.

Ichlasul argued that an MPR decree did not have a strong legal
basis because it could be revoked any time at any given Annual
Session.

"Moreover, according to Article 20 of the first amendment, the
House of Representatives (DPR) has replaced the MPR as the
supreme lawmaking body," he explained.

Chapters VII and VIIA of the second amendment state that the
MPR is no longer the supreme lawmaking body. The third amendment,
however, says that the MPR has the sole authority to form a
constitutional commission and the commission would be placed
under its jurisdiction.

Ichlasul, a former Gadjah Mada rector, added that the amended
version of Article 37 should also mention that the structure,
authority, task and working mechanism of the commission would be
stipulated in a law.

The factions in MPR have agreed to deliberate the
establishment of the commission after finalizing the fourth
amendment draft in the ongoing Annual Session, which will end on
Saturday.

Up to this point, the debate on the ideal form of the
commission has not arrived at a consensus. Activists, experts,
and the factions in the MPR each have different views on the form
and role of the commission.

Experts and activists of the Coalition for A New Constitution
have repeatedly stated that there is no reason to doubt the
commission's ability to rewrite the Constitution as has been done
in other countries such as the Philippines, Thailand and South
Africa.

Vice President Hamzah Haz meanwhile said in his office that
the commission would be assigned to make corrections to the
amended Constitution and to absorb public aspirations.

"But the commission must not ignore the results of the four
amendments to the Constitution," said Hamzah, who chairs the
United Development Party (PPP).

Several candidates for commission leadership began to surface
on Tuesday. A senior politician of the Indonesia Democratic Party
of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan), AP Batubara, suggested that the
best candidate to lead the commission was Muslim scholar
Nurcholish Madjid "because of his progressive vision and strong
commitment to the country's future".

He said that the PDI Perjuangan faction proposed that
membership of the commission be restricted to academicians from
various schools who were not under the influence of politicians
and bureaucrats.

Besides Nurcholish, Batubara also named constitutional law
experts Usep Ranuwidjaja, Jimly Asshidiqie and M. Solly Lubis as
potential members of the commission.