Constitutional amendments, a brief note on Indonesia's case.

Abstract

[Conclusion]: At this stage, it is already apparent that the amended constitution has guaranteed the civil participation in political life and the human rights. And, it is valuable to note that although the debates were in depth and serious, MPR has decided all amendments in unison and that all amendments have been officially enacted. As mentioned before, the time limit to complete the amendment process is the MPR Session in year 2002. There are still some important topics to decide, such as the composition of MPR (article 2 clause 1), on religion (article 29), on education (article 31), on social well being (article 33) and on the alteration procedures of the constitution (article 37). But it seems that those topics are not as complicated as the other topics that have been settled. However, we will continue our effort to involve the public in the whole amendment process. While in the past we had an experts team from various backgrounds of academic skills to assist the Ad Hoc I Committee, the Committee plans at least to organize another series of public hearings with the academic community, NGOs and others. We also will organize discussions in every district, as well as in Jakarta and provinces capitals as we did before, both to encourage the participation of the public in the process and to disseminate the outcomes of the previous amendments. Well still need supports from international organizations and from other countries. Considering the topics to be finalized, the spirit that has been shaped among the members of MPR, and the ample time the MPR still have until the 2002 annual session, we are optimistic that this amendment process, at the end of the day, will produce a comprehensive, democratic, and workable constitution, as desired. .This conference was supported by the generosity of the Japan Foundation Asia Centre, AusAID, the Daiwa Foundation for Asia and Oceania, the Myer Foundation and The Australian National University's National Institute for Asia and the Pacific and the Humanities Research Centre