Supremacy of law vital to rebuild nation
Supremacy of law vital to rebuild nation
JAKARTA (JP): Respect and improvement of judicial principles
and individual and collective political freedom based on the
supremacy of law are needed to rebuild the battered nation, a
political scientist said.
During his inauguration as a research professor at the
Indonesian Institute of Sciences on Thursday, Mochtar Pabottingi
said respect of justice and freedom should particularly be
applied in the amendment of the 1945 Constitution currently
underway.
"But it's not easy. Legislators at the People's Consultative
Assembly need to avoid any narrow-minded political interests,"
Mochtar said in his speech.
Also named a research professor at the institute was foreign
affairs observer Dewi Fortuna Anwar.
The ceremony came almost a year after their installment was
approved by former president B.J. Habibie.
Mochtar said wisdom in upholding the nation's interests over
personal or groups interests was needed to encourage democracy,
justice and freedom.
He said improvements in democracy should be followed by the
formation of a new general election law, a representative
legislature and a radical review of the judiciary.
"Our judicial institutions are still exhibiting abuse of their
authority, which is detrimental to our efforts to uphold justice
and freedom," he contended.
Mochtar blamed the present chaotic situation in political,
economic and judicial systems on questionable practices during
the New Order regime of former president Soeharto.
He said Soeharto's regime manipulated the three branches of
the government, namely the legislative, executive and judicial
branches.
"They just followed in the footsteps of the Dutch colonial
administration, as seen in the way they maintained their monopoly
in politics, economy and law," he said.
He said the regime also applied discrimination in stratifying
society. Soeharto's family and cronies, conglomerates, soldiers
and members of the ruling Golkar joined the first class of
society; common people made up the second class while the lowest
class comprised former political prisoners, particularly members
of the now defunct Indonesian Communist Party and their
relatives.
Mochtar said both the Soeharto regime and the Dutch colonial
administration committed corruption on a massive scale and
manipulated representative institutions.
"Both Soeharto and the Dutch colonial administration
systematically prohibited people from participating in politics
and the bureaucracy," he said.
He said the absence of a system of checks and balances in the
past regime and loopholes in the Constitution had caused the
nation greater suffering than under Dutch colonial rule.
Meanwhile, in her speech Dewi criticized President Abdurrahman
Wahid's numerous foreign trips. She said the President's overseas
travel, aimed at reassuring foreign countries in a bid to attract
investment, could prove useless if undertaken partially.
"An ad hoc and partial approach will not be effective and
prove to be a waste of money and energy," Dewi, who was an
adviser to Habibie, said.
She said persistent efforts to solicit foreign investment
would be fruitless if there was no concrete action to improve
security in the country. (jun)