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.