Book Review: The Aspiration for Constitutional Government in Indonesia; A Socio-Legal Study of the Indonesian Konstituante 1956–1959
| DOI | 10.1177/016934419401200312 |
| Date | 01 September 1994 |
| Published date | 01 September 1994 |
| Subject Matter | Part D: DocumentationBook Review |
Part D: Documentation
BOOKREVIEWS
Adnan
Buyung
Nasution, The Aspiration
for
Constitutional Government in Indonesia;
A Socio-legal Study
of
the Indonesian Konstituante 1956-1959 (1992) (570 pp.)*
Nasution' s book, a doctorate thesis defended at the University of Utrecht in
the
Netherlands on 4 November 1992, constitutes an elaborate analysis of
the
work
of
the
Indonesian Constituent Assembly,
the
so-called Konstituante, which
was
charged with
drafting a definitive constitution for
the
Republic of Indonesia after the country had
gained independence from Dutch colonial rule during the second half of
the
1940's. The
Konstituante was established through free and secret general elections
in
1955
and
consisted
of
544 members representing more than 40 million Indonesian citizens.
It
was
in session for nearly three years during 1956-1959 when it was dissolved by a decree of
the then president Sukarno before it had been able to complete its task.
Nasution's study is important in several respects. From a historical point of view it
enhances the accessibility
of
the nearly 10,000 pages
of
records
of
the Konstituante
representing a key phase in Indonesian modern history. The significance of
the
Konstituante's work, according
to
the
author, has been neglected and even played down.
To Nasution, however, the Konstituante represents no less than the focal point of
the
aspiration for constitutional government in Indonesia. From this point of departure
the
book simultaneously constitutes a contribution to the political debate in the country. The
author considers Indonesia's present constitution as a political myth from which
no
dissent
is tolerated. From the very beginning of his analysis he leaves no doubt that one of his
purposes is to challenge that myth.
Chapters N and V, comprising some 150 pages, meticulously analyze the political
developments leading up to the Presidential Decree of 5 July 1959, which has turned out
to
be so crucial in modern Indonesian history. The decree abrogated the Constitution of
1950, re-instated the 1945 Constitution thus allowing for a much more arbitrary
governmental rule, and, moreover, blocked the way to constitutional democracy in
Indonesia by dissolving the Konstituante. In a more concise fashion the book's epilogue
outlines the impact
of
these events on
the
country's present-day political system. The
more than thirty years that have passed since the demise
of
the Konstituante, according
to the author, have been years of further concentration of power in government hands,
notably those
of
the
President. Even more than under Sukarno this concentration
of
power
under President Suharto has led
to
the
elimination
of
all checks and balances by other
social forces participating in politics and it has resulted in a stable structure
of
autocratic
government, supported by a pseudo-caste system in which
the
function
of
the aristocracy
is fulfilled by the military and the bureaucratic elite. No wonder, therefore, that the book
ends with the conclusion that Indonesia needs to initiate a concrete programme of
constitutional reform. (pp. 431-433)
This as well
as
the other conclusions and suggestions contained in
the
epilogue and
the concluding chapter VI not only
flow
directly from the political analysis of chapters
IV
and V, but are also closely intertwined with the legal analysis of chapters II and ill.
The former deals with the Konstituante' s debate on the Indonesian philosophy of the state
Prof.dr. G.J.H. van Hoof, Professor
of
International Law, SIM, Utrecht University
353
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