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MPR: Indonesians need more education on Constitution
The People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) says it will revitalize public educational programs on the 1945 Constitution due to a lack of understanding of the 63-year-old document
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The People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) says it will revitalize public educational programs on the 1945 Constitution due to a lack of understanding of the 63-year-old document.
"The decision came about because people do not understand what the current constitutional amendments mean for them," MPR chairman Hidayat Nurwahid said after a meeting of regional leaders here Thursday.
"We have learned from experience that such education strengthens people's sense of nationalism," he added.
The assembly has budgeted Rp 97 billion (US$10.55 million) for 2008 programs that will include quiz competitions and various radio and television shows and books aimed to educate the masses about the Constitution.
Hidayat said regional administrations would help with the budget.
"Each region will have to provide venues, materials and manpower. The MPR has already provided training for local trainers, so naturally their administrations should help with the funding," he said.
The MPR has been providing education on the amendments to the 1945 Constitution since 2005. Through 2007, some 320 municipalities had been involved in the program, which focuses on teachers, scholars and government officials.
Critics of the policy say the education program was unnecessary and doomed to fail.
In 2005, executive director of the Policy and Law Study Center, Bivitri Susanti, harshly criticized the program, saying it was primarily carried out in five-star hotels.
Recently, Denny Indrayana, a constitutional law expert from Yogyakarta's Gadjah Mada University, criticized the quiz competitions, televised as game shows, as meaningless extra work for the MPR.
Hidayat, however, said education policy was too important to abandon.
"We have gotten nothing but positive feedback on the education process. The children are happy that we have a game show format as part of the program."
The meeting also discussed plans to meet with President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono regarding the establishment of teams to analyze constitutional amendments. (anw)
