Triumvirate plan needs Constitutional amendment

JAKARTA (JP): Constitutional law professor Harun Alrasid said a constitutional amendment was needed if the House of Representatives wanted to set up a triumvirate leadership in the event the president and vice president are incapacitated.

He contended that a mere regulation, as proposed by House Speaker Akbar Tandjung, was insufficient.

"A law is not enough. It depends on the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) to change this," Harun told The Jakarta Post on Monday.

House Speaker Akbar Tandjung said on Friday that the House was preparing a draft on a presidential law which would propose that executive authority be handed to a triumvirate of speakers of the House, Assembly and Supreme Court Chief Justice.

Article 8 of the 1945 Constitution states that if the president is incapacitated, the vice president automatically assumes presidential authority.

But the article does not regulate what would happen if both the president and vice president are incapacitated.

A 1973 Assembly decree states that under such circumstances executive duties would be led by a triumvirate of the foreign affairs minister, home affairs minister and the Indonesian Military chief.

The decree stipulates that they be given three months to elect a new president.

But Harun contended that the Assembly's nearly three-decade- old decree was invalid as such appointment was not recognized by the Constitution.

He stressed that an amendment to the constitutional articles pertaining to the issue was the only way to satisfactorily resolve the matter.

Harun said it was entirely up to the Assembly to decide if it wished to amend it using the new formula of speakers of the Assembly, House and Supreme Court.

"But it's a strange idea," he remarked.

He suggested that the Assembly speaker handle the matter alone under such extraordinary circumstances.

"Three people are too many," he said.

Separately, Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan) legislator Dimyati Hartono said the latest suggestions were merely sparked by fears following news over President Abdurrahman Wahid's ill health last week.

He suggested that it may also be an initial move to ensure that power is not delegated to Vice President Megawati Soekarnoputri in case Abdurrahman is incapacitated.

"It's a useless idea," he remarked.(jun)