The halfway reform
The halfway reform
The People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) must be commended for
completing the constitutional amendment process at the just-ended
Annual Session by relying largely on consensus rather than votes.
Putting aside for a moment the substance of the amendments, we
must pay tribute to the 695 Assembly members, particularly their
leaders, for showing us that Pancasila-style consensual democracy
is still very much alive in this country.
The MPR members have shown us that most political differences
can still be resolved through deliberation and consensus. Of
course, there is absolutely nothing wrong with the use of a vote
as another democratic way of settling conflicts. But if
differences can be ironed out through debate, then why put them
to a vote?
No doubt some horses were traded between the political
factions, particularly the ones with the most clout, on the way
to reaching a compromise. We will probably be hearing about what
exactly these factions compromised or gave up in the near future.
But for the moment, let us simply rejoice at the MPR's
achievement in making the nation a little more democratic by
enacting the fourth set of constitutional amendments.
This fourth batch of amendments are the last in a series of
changes the current MPR has made to the 1945 Constitution. When
these Assembly members were elected (or appointed as the case may
be for some) in 1999, one of their chief tasks was to amend the
country's basic laws. The consensus then was that the 1945
Constitution was too vague a document, allowing authoritarian
leaders to exploit the Constitution's weaknesses to serve their
own political interests. It is no coincidence that two successive
dictators ruled this nation for the first 50 years of its
independence, until 1998.
The constitutional amendments enacted by the MPR since 1999
are not perfect by any measure. For many people, they are still
far from the ideal that would put Indonesia on a path toward a
prosperous modern state under democratic civilian rule. But the
present basic law is certainly much better than the original 1945
Constitution in ensuring that power-mad dictators will no longer
rule the nation. At the very least, the amended 1945 Constitution
has stripped away some of the powers of the president and of the
MPR, and restored them to their rightful owners: the people.
The fourth set of amendments should theoretically pave the way
for the nation to organize the next general election in 2004,
using a new system that is much more democratic than the one used
in 1999. One of the more salient points in the Constitution after
four series of amendments is that the people will be electing the
president and vice president directly in 2004, taking that
privilege out of the hands of the MPR.
Another major point is the introduction of a bicameral system
comprising the House of Representatives and the Regional
Representative Council, which together will make up the MPR. This
amendment effectively eliminates the presence of nonelected
representatives in either chamber.
Whatever reservations people may have about the way the 1945
Constitution was amended, nobody can deny that this is still a
better document than the original text. Thankfully, there were
enough reasonable people in the MPR who were willing to fight to
ensure the completion of the amendment process last week. When
the Annual Session began on Aug. 1, there were fears that some
MPR members would deadlock the amendment process, leading the
nation into a constitutional crisis and forcing a return to the
dictator-friendly 1945 Constitution.
Realizing the shortcomings and imperfections of the four
series of amendments, the MPR has also wisely approved the
establishment of a new constitutional commission, which will be
tasked with reviewing the whole process.
The biggest drawback of the four series of amendments is that
they were enacted with little public participation, and therefore
reflect more the interests of the major political factions in
securing their places after 2004. Nevertheless, with the
completion of the amendment process by the MPR, the battleground
for constitutional change will shift to the commission once it is
established.
But let us hope (for this remains unclear) that the nation
will be able to organize the elections in 2004 based on the
existing text of the basic law, without having to wait for the
outcome of the debate in the new constitutional commission.
The fourth amendment process has paved the way for more
democratic elections in 2004, but there is still plenty of work
to do between now and then. The House will still have to prepare
various legislations to accommodate the changes made to the
Constitution, including a law on general elections, a law on
political parties, a law on presidential elections and a law on
the composition of the MPR.
Then there are the logistical aspects, from the registration
of voters to preparations for counting the votes in 2004.
Nobody said the road to democracy would be short and painless.
When this nation opted for reform rather than revolution, we
chose the longer but more certain road to democracy and
prosperity. Today, with the MPR having completed the
constitutional amendment process, we are probably only halfway
there. There is still a long way to go, and the road is bound to
be filled with many more obstacles.
The struggle for reform is not over yet.