The constitutional game

The constitutional game

Hardly a day goes by without one or more of our top
politicians invoking the Constitution in the power struggle among
the country's political elite. The basic law, or the UUD 1945, is
increasingly looking more like a tool to attack opponents, or to
defend one's action or position, and less like a set of rules to
administer the state. Every self-righteous politician, it seems,
is finding ways of using the UUD 1945 to his or her own
advantage.

President Abdurrahman Wahid, fighting for his survival, was
quoted by Minister of Defense Mahfud MD as stating on Wednesday
that he would resign if he had violated the Constitution, as
accused by his foes in the House of Representatives. This is, of
course, another one of those political tautologies with no real
meaning whatsoever except to confuse the already muddled
situation. The President obviously has no intention of resigning
but with that statement he is challenging, or demanding, those
calling for his head to prove their accusations.

His critics have also fallen back on the Constitution in their
campaign to unseat him, some doggedly sticking to the letter of
the basic law, others are taking a more loose interpretation.

Vice President Megawati Soekarnoputri and the Indonesian
Military (TNI) supported the House's decision to issue the
memorandum of censure against the President, but have insisted
that any further move must follow constitutional mechanisms.

People's Consultative Assembly chairman Amien Rais and House
Speaker Akbar Tandjung, supported by their political factions,
while professing to remain constitutional, have tried to
circumvent the process. The House has began drafting the second
memorandum against the President without bothering to wait for
his official response to the first one. More than 150 legislators
in the meantime have signed another petition rebuking the
President for violating the Constitution. Amien has also looked
into the possibility of waiving the second memorandum altogether
to call for a special session of the Assembly to impeach the
President.

Thanks to the power struggle between these leaders, the
Constitution has now been reduced to nothing more than a board
game that only a few of the nation's political leaders play.
Every one is invoking it, and every one feels that they are right
when their turn to speak comes. Since the UUD 1945 lays down only
the general principles of managing the state, it is open to many
different, at times contradicting, interpretations. This has made
the constitutional game more interesting. The rest of the nation
can only watch until the game is played out and a winner emerges
for the accolade as the most constitutional of them all.

While these politicians profess to be playing by the rules,
they seem to have forgotten that, as important as it is to abide
by the letter of the Constitution, it is even more important to
live up to the spirit embodied in the basic law.

Encyclopedia Britannica defines a constitution as "a body of
fundamental laws and principles according to which a political
state is governed. It determines the organization of a
government, the functions and powers of the government in general
and of its subdivisions and officers, and how these functions and
powers are to be exercised."

In short, the constitution lays down the rules about how the
state should be managed that will ensure peace, order and
harmony, and progress and prosperity within that country. These
were what the drafters of the Constitution had in mind in 1945 as
outlined in the preamble.

By treating the Constitution as nothing more than a board
game, present day Indonesian leaders have ensured that there is
minimal governance, resulting in little peace and order in many
parts of the archipelago, virtually no economic development and
therefore little hope of increasing public prosperity.

The UUD 1945 is not a perfect set of documents, but that is
not where the problem really lies. The biggest fault lies with
those who administer the Constitution: the political elite who
exercise power. They have to implement the Constitution not only
according to the letter, but more importantly, its soul and
spirit.

The UUD 1945 has undergone a series of amendments over the
past two years and will no doubt continue to do so in the coming
years. While we can come up with the most perfect or detailed set
of documents to govern the country, they are meaningless as long
as they are administered by people who are politically corrupt,
or, as regarding the case of present day leaders, by those who
only treat the Constitution as nothing more than a game.