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Jakarta Post

MPR seeks to revive Soeharto regime’s practices

It is not impossible that the upcoming amendment would allow President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo to extend his term if the political elites believed it would benefit them.

Kornelius Purba (The Jakarta Post)
Jakarta
Tue, August 24, 2021

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MPR seeks to revive Soeharto regime’s practices People's Consultative Assembly Speaker Bambang Soesatyo delivers his speech during a plenary session in Jakarta on Aug. 14, 2020. (Antara/Akbar Nugroho Gumay)

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eople’s Consultative Assembly (MPR) Speaker Bambang Soesatyo has officially announced a plan to amend the Constitution for the fifth time since Indonesia declared a commitment to full-fledged democracy in 1999. The Constitution was amended four times as Indonesia attempted to make a break with Soeharto’s 32-year dictatorship that ended in May 1998, but now the fifth amendment looks set to turn the clock back to the era when political oligarchy prevailed.

It is not impossible that the upcoming amendment would allow President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo to extend his term if the political elites believed it would benefit them.

Saying the Constitution is not a Holy Book, Bambang said it was the right time to re-examine the country’s highest law. At first glance it is true that after 19 years, we need to check the shortcomings of our Constitution simply to make our democracy more perfect but we would be naïve indeed to buy such cheap rhetoric. Come on, we must wake up.

Technically it would be a simple matter to amend any part of the Constitution, because the ruling coalition alone has the minimum number of votes required to make it happen. If necessary they can deliberate the amendment behind closed doors, as happened when the House of Representatives debated controversial bills like the job creation bill and revision the of the Corruption Eradication Commission Law last year.

What are the requirements for an amendment? According to Article 37 of the Constitution, first, a proposed amendment proposal should be submitted by at least one third, or 237, of the current MPR members. Second, a MPR session requires the presence of at least two thirds, or 474, of the MPR members. Third, any decision requires the agreement of at least 50 percent plus one of MPR members in attendance.

The MPR comprises the 575 House members and the 136 members of the Regional Representatives Council (DPD).

Jokowi’s ruling coalition has 462 House seats: the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) has 128; Golkar (85); Gerindra (78); Nasdem (59); National Awakening Party (58) and the United Development Party with 10. The National Mandate Party (PAN), which has 44 seats is a de-facto supporter of the ruling coalition.

Bambang, a seasoned Golkar politician, promised there would only be a limited amendment, but trust me tinkering with the Constitution is like opening Pandora’s box. At least two leaders of major factions, the PDI-P and Gerindra Party, want to reinstate the original version of the Constitution, which Soeharto fought for in order to stay in power for more than three decades. For Soeharto the Constitution was sacred. 

The MPR should feel grateful about the devastating COVID-19 pandemic because it would help the state body restore its much reduced power and to have the final say on Indonesia’s direction for the next 50-100 years, as Bambang stated.

While the nation is devoting its attention and energy to fighting the health crisis and its social and economic repercussions, the MPR has a free hand to realize whatever the country’s political oligarchy wants. And let us not forget that street protests are prohibited during this health emergency while criticism and objections expressed through social media are vulnerable to police arrest.

In his speech during the joint session of the House and the DPD on Aug. 16, Bambang said the MPR would deliberate a limited amendment of the Constitution, namely Article 3 and Article 23.

Article 3 of the amended Constitution would mandate to the MPR to authority to amend the Constitution, install the president and vice president and dismiss them. According to the original version, the MPR held the rights to elect the president and vice president, determine the Broad State Policy Guidelines (GBHN) and ensure the president upheld the Constitution “purely and consistently.”

Through the fifth amendment, the MPR expects to regain the power to endorse the GBHN, which will be renamed State Policy Outlines (PPHN).

“The philosophical PPHN is necessary to ensure the face that Indonesia presents for the future, in the 50-100 years ahead, which will be full of the dynamism of national, regional and global development, amid the impact of the industrial revolution, the progress of science, technology and information,” Bambang said in his speech.

Does anyone believe the PPHN will just be nonbinding decrees for the president as promised? In your dreams!

Article 23 requires the government to use the current year’s budget if the House rejects the draft budget for the coming year. After the amendment, the House can hold the government hostage or else serve its interests by rejecting a draft budget without solid reason.

The previous constitutional amendments took place in October 1999, August 2000, November 2001 and August 2002.The amendments resulted in the limitation of presidential and vice presidential terms of office to only two. Prior to that the Constitution did not set a limitation, allowing a president to be reelected as many times as possible.

Thanks to the amendments the people now have the right to choose the president they want directly, the regions enjoy wide-ranging autonomy and the military has had to abandon its sociopolitical rights and become separate from the police. The amendments also gave birth to the DPD, which emulates a senate but has so far only played an advisory role. As the DPD demands more power, it will be easy for the ruling coalition to entice it to change the Constitution.

Will we Indonesians allow a mere 356 politicians change the Constitution as they wish and exacerbate this democratic regression? Come on.

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The writer is senior editor of The Jakarta Post.

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