Desy Nurhayati, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The current constitution is not ideal to nurture democracy in Indonesia since it was the product of horse trading practices between political factions during its amendment process, a newly-launched book says.

The book, Organizing a Transitional Constitution launched at the Constitutional Court here on Wednesday, says while amending the 1945 Constitution, there were conflicts of interests and views between parties grouped in 11 factions in the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR).

Each faction involved attempted to strengthen their political positions, it says.

"The four-stage amendment process between 1999 to 2002 was marred by strong political conflicts, bargaining and compromises between the factions," author Valina Singka Subekti said at the launch.

Valina, a political scientist from the University of Indonesia, was a member of the ad-hoc MPR committee before joining the General Elections Commission (KPU).

She said the main issues discussed by the committee during the amendment process were the state ideology and religion, the legislative composition — the House of Representatives, the Regional Representatives Council (DPD) and MPR — and presidential election mechanisms.

"Conflicts in discussions were strongly influenced by the parties' identities and interests," she said.

For example, Valina cited the blatant conflict between Islamic and nationalist parties when discussing the state ideology and religion.

"The nationalist parties demanded Pancasila (the secular state ideology) be included in the constitution's articles, while the Islamic grouping rejected the idea."

Conversely, she said, the Islamic parties wanted Article 29 on religion to include a phrase, "conducting Islamic sharia" — a proposal that was opposed by the nationalist parties.

Another example, she said, was the debate over the empowerment of the DPD.

There were three ideas raised in the discussion. Firstly, the DPD should be placed at the same level as the House to create a two-chamber system. Secondly, the DPD should be treated as a legislative body with limited authority. Thirdly, the DPD should not be made a separate institution but should comprise regional representatives voted in directly by provinces.

"The Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle rejected the first idea because they feared the stronger DPD would have the potential to create federal states," Valina said.

"The Golkar Party, meanwhile, argued that the DPD should be given more authority to accommodate regional aspirations, saying it would lead to a stronger state."

Valina however said all the factions agreed with the idea to ensure the distribution of power between the state executive, legislative and judicial bodies in order to strengthen a check-and-balance mechanism.

"They all agreed to establish a more democratic country. Therefore, they focused the discussions more on democratic values, including how the country's political system and mechanisms could work in line with democracy, and also how to accommodate political aspirations from regions," she said.

Former MPR speaker Amien Rais said political conflicts and compromises during the constitutional amendment process were normal and acceptable as long as the process was conducted thoroughly and openly.

 

Tags: Desy Nurhayati, Organizing a Transitional Constitution, Peoples Consultative Assembly