The Indonesian Constitution 1945: Why was it amended?

In 1999, 2000, 2001, and 2002, the Indonesian Constitution 1945 was amended by MPR or the People’s Consultative Assembly, the bearer of the people’s sovereignty. The amendment was not without opposition. A number of ex military generals, political elites, and scientists opposed the amendment. They demanded that the amendment be cancelled and that MPR re-enact the Constitution 1945, originally and consistently. But, convinced by the argument that the Constitution had conceptual weaknesses, the majority of MPR insisted on amending the Constitution in order to make it more democratic, modern, comprehensive, and responsive to every new challenge. The amendment was also meant to implement the values and ideals formulated by the Preamble and to prevent the power holders from doing power abuse by returning back the sovereignty to the people; confining the power and authority of MPR as well as the President, but enforcing the power and authority of DPR or the People’s Representative Council; promoting autonomy for the local governments; establishing DPD or the Regional Representative Council, the Judicial Commission as well as the Constitution Court; guaranteeing the honor of human rights; improving the quality of education by allocating 20 percent of the national and local government budget; etc. In order not to deviate from the basic values formulated in the Preamble, the amendment did not at all touch the Preamble and not alter the form of the unitary state of the Republic of Indonesia. Keyword: The Constitution 1945, MPR or the People’s Consultative Assembly, and amendmen

The Javanese culture as a source of Suharto's leadership: A socio-political analysis

Great General Suharto who had managed to rule the country for more than 32 years, used and manipulated Javanese cultural values and philosophy as the 'guidance', for his personal and in official duties. According to Suharto, a number of traditional Javanese thoughts in the form of guidance or pituduh' and prohibition or 'wewaler', when practiced, would make the Indonesian people have noble and generous mind or 'ber budi bowo leksono', that is one who is really good as the essence of goodness or 'becik sajatining becik'. Suharto's strong commitment and spirit to the practice of these Javanese traditional teachings were based on his belief that it would not be difficult for Indonesian people to improve their consciousness as the nation of Indonesia in their state, government and social life on the basis of Pancasila should they understood the Javanese cultural values and philosophy. This study is meant to critically analyze how these noble Javanese traditional teachings, particularly in politics, were practiced by Suharto in his personal capacity and official duties. This analysis is based on theoretical framework that culture occupies important role in determining human behavior and social change and that it is culture that should be taken into account in the last instance to explain human behavior and social change. In his personal life, the practice of Javanese traditional teachings was meant to make him a good Javanese having capacity to receive 'wahyu' or 'guidance' from God Almighty particularly for ruling the country. And in his official duties it was meant to convince the people that all decisions and policies he had taken were always socially just and philosophically correct because they were based on very highly respected values and philosophy so that they could be accepted or legitimate; and secondly to create a just and prosperous society based on Pancasila and the 1945 Constitution as mandated by the Proclamation of the 17 August 1945 through a well-organized development movement. In order to achieve these goals, Suharto always attempted to concentrate power as most Javanese kings usually did by implementing the doctrine of 'dwifungsi ABRI', creating GOLKAR as a vehicle for his political goals, merging the numerous political parties into two major parties, imposing policy on mono-loyalty to all civil servants, and practicing anti-criticism and anti-opposition policy in order to weaken or even neutralize his political opponents. To give constitutional basis for the Javanese cultural values and philosophy to be implemented by all Indonesian people as guidance for their state, government, and social life Suharto formulated the P-4 or "Pedoman Penghayatan dan Pengamalan Pancasila" (Guidance for the Comprehension and Practice of Pancasila) and inserted a number of Javanese traditional teachings into it. These traditional teachings were also inserted into the "Doktrin Kepemimpinan ABRI" or the Indonesian Armed Forces Leadership Doctrine adopted by the ABRI.

PERANG DALAM TATA KEHIDUPAN ANTARBANGSA

Pidato Pengukuhan Guru Besar Bidang Teori Politik Internasional. Fakultas Ilmu Sosial dan Ilmu Politik, Universitas Sebelas Maret. Disampaikan dalam Sidang Senat Terbuka Universitas Sebelas Maret. Pada Tanggal 19 April 2008

The Welfare of the Indonesian Migrant Workers (TKI) in the Land of a Malay Nation: A Socio-Economic Analysis

The aim of this research is to find out whether the welfare of the Indonesian migrant workers (TKI) working in Kedah, Malaysia, increases. There are three special targets which the researchers want to reach: (1) to identify and to map the location of the Indonesian migrant workers (TKI) working in Kedah, Malaysia, (2) to analyse their social and economic condition, and (3) to identify their problems met during they work in the location. The methods used are spatial and regression method. Geography Information System (GIS) is used to map the location of the Indonesian migrant workers (TKI). Regression method gives information of primary factors of the Indonesian migrant workers (TKI) that can increase their welfare. Spatial analysis is divided by three themes of map: (1) work type, (2) education, experience, age, and family size, and (3) remittance, income and migration cost. Socio-economy condition of the Indonesian migrant workers (TKI) is good enough. Other important finding is that the Indonesian migrant workers (TKI) mostly spend their money for phone deposit and cigarettes. Remittance is a proxy of the Indonesian migrant workers (TKI) welfare. It is significantly influenced by income, education level, family size, and living cost. Meanwhile, age, experience, and migration cost do not influence the remittance

Analysis of Indonesian Labor Welfare Case Study : Kedah, Malaysia

The aims of this research are to know how increase the Indonesian labor (TKI) welfare in Kedah, Malaysia. The targets which are reached : (1) identifying and mapping T K I location in Kedah, Malaysia, (2) socio-economy analysis and (3) identifying the T K I problems. The methods are spatial and regression method. Geography Information System (GIS) is used to map T K I location. Regression method gives the information of primary factors of TKI that will increase their welfare. Spatial analysis is divided by three themes of map: (1) work type, (2) education, experience, age, and family size, (3) remittance, income and migration cost. Socio-economy condition of TKI is good enough. Other important finding is T K I mostly spend their money for phone deposit and cigarette. Remittance is a proxy of T K I welfare. It is significantly influenced by income, education level, family size, and living cost. Meanwhile, age, experience, and migration cost are not influence to remittance.

Politik Internasional : Suatu analisis dan kritik

Surakartavii, 59 p.; 21 c

Tanggapan Umat Islam Kota Solo terhadap Kartun Nabi Muhammad SAW di Surat Kabar Jylland-Posten (Denmark) dan Film Fitna di Situs Video Liveleak (Belanda)

Pemuatan 12 kartun Nabi Muhammad SAW di surat kabar Jyllands-Posten (Denmark), 30 September 2005, serta perilisan film Fitna di situs video Liveleak oleh Geert Wilders (Belanda), 27 Maret 2008, telah menimbulkan kemarahan seluruh umat Islam se dunia. Sekalipun demikian, pelampiasan kemarahan tersebut berbeda-beda dari suatu tempat ke tempat yang lain, dan akibat yang ditimbulkannya juga berbeda-beda. Seringkali terjadi, tanggapan sekelompok masyarakat terhadap kasus tertentu bisa menimbulkan ketegangan dan bahkan konflik yang membahayakan integrasi nasional dan harmoni sosial. Penelitian ini dimaksudkan untuk mengetahui bagaimana tanggapan umat Islam di Kota Solo terhadap kedua kasus pelecehan dan atau penghinaan agama tersebut. Metode penelitian yang digunakan adalah deskriptif kualitatif. Fakta-fakta yang berupa tanggapan umat Islam terhadap kedua kasus tersebut dipilah-pilahkan, diberi makna, dicari dan kemudian dijelaskan hubungannya. Data-data tersebut kemudian dianalisis dengan menggunakan “interactive analysis model”. Wawancara mendalam dilakukan terhadap 17 orang tokoh umat Islam yang berasal dari berbagai organisasi Islam yang berbeda-beda yang ada di Kota Solo, sebagai representasi umat Islam Kota Solo. Dari hasil wawancara mendalam terhadap ke tujuh belas informan tersebut diperoleh gambaran sebagai bertikut: (1) Hampir semua informan mengetahui terjadinya kedua kasus tersebut dari media massa (seperti surat kabar, majalah, televisi, dan interenet), sedangkan ada seorang yang mengetahui dari temannya. Namun demikian ada empat orang yang sama sekali tidak mengetahui kasus perilisan film Fitna; (2) Semua informan mengaku memberikan perhatian karena hal itu menyangkut harga diri umat Islam. Akan tetapi sebagian kurang begitu memperhatikan, dan sebagian yang lain sangat memperhatikan. Ada informan yang justru ingin mengetahui apa yang sebenarnya terjadi di kalangan masyarakat Barat sehingga bisa muncul kedua kasus seperti itu; (3) Hampir semua informan memandang kedua kasus tersebut merupakan penghinaan yang berlindung di balik kebebasan berekspresi yang melanggar HAM, dan pelakunya perlu ditindak. Tapi ada informan yang menganggap kedua kasus itu sebenarnya merupakan “undangan yang buruk untuk berdialog” yang harus dilayani. Mereka mengundang karena ingin tahu ada apa dengan Islam. Jangankan tahu Islam, sebagai orang Kristen, mereka sendiri tidak bisa merasakan ke-Kristenan mereka; (4) Hampir semua informan menganggap tindakan sweeping terhadap warga Negara Barat tidak perlu dilakukan, akan tetapi walaupun begitu ada informan yang bisa memahami tindakan sweeping sebagai reaksi spontan; (5) Sebagian informan menyatakan pemerintah Indonesia tidak perlu bertindak, sebagian yang lain menyatakan perlu. Ada seorang informan yang bahkan menyangsikan kemauan dan kemampuan pemerintah untuk menangani kasus tersebut; (6) Beberapa informan menganggap pelecehan itu terjadi karena memang sudah sunatullah, atau karena ketidak-pahaman tentang Islam, atau karena ketidakrukunan umat Islam, dan atau karena kelemahan umat Islam. Namun demikian, ada yang menganggap kedua kasus tersebut memiliki sisi positipnya bagi umat Islam; (7) Beberapa informan menganggap kebebasan berekspresi seperti itu berlebihan dan melanggar HAM. Beberapa yang lain menganggap kedua kasus itu merupakan bagian dari strategi atau ‘grand design’ untuk menghancurkan Islam, atau mengajak umat Islam kembali ke “kafir” atau memiliki nuansa politik yang tidak diketahui. Bahkan ada informan yang menolak konsep HAM, tapi lebih suka menggunakan konsep “kemanusiaan yang adil dan beradab.