Unchecked power blamed for problems

YOGYAKARTA (JP): Two government critics blamed "unchecked state power" for contemporary social and political problems, ranging from rampant corruption to human rights violations, during a university seminar.

Human rights campaigner Adnan Buyung Nasution and politician Sri Bintang Pamungkas addressed a seminar on social engineering at Gadjah Mada University yesterday, in which they found faults at practically every level of society.

"Rampant corruption, collusion practices that are destroying our legal and moral order and arbitrary actions against people's basic rights ... are all the result of unchecked state power," Buyung told 300 seminar participants.

Bintang, a former legislator of the Moslem-oriented United Development Party, said that unchecked power tends to disregard "laws, truth, justice, moral values and ethics".

"The various political and constitutional problems that we have been facing are all caused by this kind of power," he said.

Buyung, who is also a leading member of the Indonesian Legal Aid Foundation, reminded seminar participants that according to the concept of a constitutional state, power should be reined by the constitution and employed only for the good of the people.

The concept, he said, was an ideal. In reality, however, it goes unchecked because it's concentrated in the hands of a few people. The situation, he argued, has rendered the existing legal system powerless.

Without the power administrator's adherence to the law, he said, a state cannot be called "constitutional". "Those entrusted with the task of running the country should be willing and have the awareness and responsibility to respect the rules and limitations imposed on their power," he said.

Buyung suggested "social engineering" to correct the situation. "We need legal change and reform now," he said. "The concentration of power in the hands of the President should be changed."

He called for a better and consistent division of power. "We need to establish a system of checks and balances," he said. "Only then can Indonesia become a modern country which also meets the principles of a constitutional state."

Buyung said that among the first steps to be taken -- if the people wished to see an accountable government -- was reviving the functions of institutes of democracy such as the House of Representatives, the People's Consultative Assembly, political parties, social and professional organizations and the press.

"The people's rights should also be protected," he said.

Bintang called for efforts "to return the people's sovereignty and independence to the decision making processes."

"We have to (independently) reject absolutism. We have to reject unfair and undemocratic general elections. We should hope for new leaders to emerge and correct the mistakes of old leaders," he said. (har/swe)