Triumvirate plan needs Constitutional amendment

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)