President: Constitution should not be amended too frequently

SBY PRESIDENCY

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said the Constitution should not be amended too frequently.

In his speech at the commemoration of Constitution Day at the People`s Consultative Assembly (MPR) building on Tuesday, the head of state said a good constitution was one that did not need amending over long periods of time.

"There must be knowledge of the basic essence. So ways of seeing and a discourse on the need for an amendment must be referred to its essence," he said.

President Yudhoyono said the constitution as the foundation of statehood could be amended only when people really wanted the needed change to meet challenges that required an adjustment to their most basic law.

He said constitutional amendments must not be made a goal but a means of creating a better life.

"Actually constitution must be adaptive to developments and is not a sacred book which cannot be changed. Fundamental constitutional change must occur only upon real need while frequent changes are not good," he said.

He said a constitution must be general and comprehensive in scope but did not regulate everything in detail as details would be elaborated in the underlying legal systems such as laws and government regulations.

Apart from that a constitution must also present clear and strict rules that give no room for multi-interpretation, he said.

A constitution, the head of state said, had to regulate functions of checks and balances particularly among the executive, legislative and judicative branches of government.

"Power must not be allowed to be wielded unchecked to become absolute. Experiences from home and abroad have shown how dangerous it is if power becomes absolute," he said.

To ensure the rights of citizens, he said, the constitution must also explain the correct relationship between the state and the people.

President Yudhoyono said the amendments that had been made to Indonesia`s constitution were part of the nation`s efforts to find the right form of democracy.

"If we observe closely we know that efforts by the nation to formulate our constitution ran almost parallel with efforts to find the right form of democracy," he said.

In the midst of current transformational and transitional period President Yudhoyono called on all components of the nation to continue implementing the existing constitution without hesitation or reservations.

The commemorative function was also attended by Vice President Jusuf Kall and the chiefs of other state institutions.

Several state institutions and other elements had signed a declaration making August 18 Constitution Day for commemoration every year.

The launch was confirmed by Presidential Decree Number 18, 2008, and aimed at reviving national constitutional awareness.

The Committee for the Preparation of Indonesian Independence (PPKI) in a plenary session on August 18, 1945, adopted the country`s first constitution which eventually was always referred to as the 1945 Constitution (UUD `45).

The 1945 Constitution was amended four times since the advent of the reform in 1999.(ANTARA News)

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