Synchronize changes in Constitution, add commission: Experts

Synchronize changes in Constitution, add commission: Experts

Ati Nurbaiti and Sri Wahyuni, The Jakarta Post, Yogyakarta

Scholars attending a workshop here recommended on Tuesday that
the next annual session of the People's Consultative Assembly
should focus on just two points: ensuring that the previous three
amendments do not contradict each other and stipulating that
amendments are done by an independent constitution commission.

The head of the workshop's commission in charge of the
amendment process, J. Kristiadi, told participants that the
Assembly should only "synchronize and make systematic" the first,
second and third amendments to the 1945 Constitution.

The implication, according to Ichlasul Amal, head of the
alumni body of Gadjah Mada University, which organized the event,
is that the current fourth amendment should be aborted, given
widening public resistance.

Most criticism has included charges that the fourth amendment
is based on short-term political interests and that it is
"elitist".

The amendments "have not been based on basic thoughts on a
vision of the Constitution as a social contract, which has
resulted in a Constitution which is incomprehensive, overlapping
and not cohesive", Kristiadi said.

Kristiadi, a political scientist of the Jakarta-based Centre
for Strategic and International Relations, added that a
constitution commission should be established and given a full
mandate to formulate a constitution within a year, involving
public participation.

He was addressing the plenary session of the workshop, which
followed Monday's seminar on a critical evaluation on the
process, and results of the amendment.

Political scientist Mochtar Pabottingi of the National
Institute of Sciences was on the commission focusing on improving
the draft Constitution, and historian Anhar Gonggong headed
another commission evaluating the amendments.

Recommendations will be presented on Wednesday to President
Megawati Soekarnoputri, who is scheduled to close the event.
Students plan to demonstration against the presentation of the
results to the President, who also chairs the Indonesian
Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan), the biggest
political party in the legislature that has expressed reluctance
to change the Constitution.

"Do not sell the campus," a statement signed by Abdul Aziz,
secretary-general of Gadjah Mada University's student
organization Keluarga Mahasiswa, said.

"It doesn't take a genius to understand the logic" that the
sincere efforts of the participants should not be given to
Megawati, he added.

Ichlasul and other scholars reiterated earlier suggestions
that the most crucial amendment should be on direct presidential
elections.

To overcome the current controversy of having the Assembly
choose a president if a majority of 50 percent plus one is not
achieved in presidential elections, he said there should be only
one round of a presidential election by the public. "Whoever wins
should become president," he said.

Presidential elections should not be held in the same year as
the elections for local and national legislators, he said.

Regarding the independent constitution commission, some hope
the commission can be established by 2004 at the latest, while
others still hope that it could be realized following the Annual
Session in August.

"Many countries such as Thailand and South Africa have carried
out this system involving experts in various fields," legal
expert Koesnadi Hardjasoemantri said.

Experts such as Bambang Wijayanto, Denny Indrayana and J.
Kristiadi had on Monday referred to the experience of 153
countries where public pressure had led to a constitutional
overhaul, mainly in the 1990s.

Meanwhile, scholars and activists in an NGO coalition focusing
on the Constitution are continuing their work on drafting a new
constitution. Coalition members said they hope to significantly
influence the process ahead of the August Annual Session, and
that there were encouraging signs from members of the
legislature's committee in charge of the amendment (PAH I).

"Pak Jacob (Tobing) and Slamet (Effendi Yusuf) have said they
would welcome our draft and also an independent commission,
especially since they realize they do not have the necessary
expertise (to draw up a constitution)," one of the scholars who
required anonymity said. He was referring to the committee's
chairman and deputy.

It would be impossible to pin hopes on a committee,
particularly given PDI Perjuangan's reluctance to introduce
direct presidential elections, he said.

The newly expanded NGO coalition is also stepping up campaigns
for an independent constitution commission.