Kurniawan Hari, Jakarta – Public pressure is now growing for the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) to establish an independent constitutional commission, just two days before the Assembly begins its Annual Session to endorse changes agreed in the fourth phase of the constitutional amendment process.

Noted Muslim cleric Solahuddin Wahid, legal expert Adnan Buyung Nasution and former coordinating minister for political and security affairs Gen. (ret.) Wiranto met with MPR chairman Amien Rais on Tuesday to urge the Assembly to form an independent commission to synchronize amendments made in the fourth phase with those endorsed in previous stages.

The National Awakening Party (PKB), the fourth-largest party, voiced a similar demand on Monday.

"We are concerned at the current amendment process," said Buyung after a closed-door meeting with the MPR leaders here on Tuesday. However, he did not elaborate on this concern.

According to Buyung, the proposed commission could be established through a decree or by amending Article 37 of the 1945 Constitution to give authority to the commission.

The commission, Buyung said, would be tasked with advancing and harmonizing all results of amendments in the past three years. Until the constitutional commission completed its task, he added, all amended articles in the constitution ought to be declared valid.

The MPR, the country's highest legislative body, will convene from August 1 through 10 to endorse, among other things, amendments agreed in the current stage of constitutional amendment.

Analysts have criticized the whole process and the results of amendments to the 1945 Constitution, which, they said, had not been subject to public participation and were based merely on political parties' short-term vested interests.

The Interest Groups faction, for example, has insisted on maintaining its presence in the MPR, despite agreement last year that the Assembly would comprise members of the House of Representatives (DPR) and the Regional Representatives Council (DPD), all of whom must have been elected in a general election.

After more than one year of deliberations, the Assembly's ad hoc committee for amendment (PAH 1) has failed to reach consensus on the factions in the MPR.

MPR members have also locked horns on a direct presidential election as they have failed to reach an agreement on the second round of the election in the event that the first fails to produce a clear winner to take over the national leadership.

Apart from their conflicting political interests, MPR members have also come under fire for providing the public with little opportunity to participate in the amendment process.

Even though PAH 1 members held hearings with various religious groups and scholars, as well as making regional visits, the time available for discussion was very limited, depriving the public at large of the opportunity to participate actively in the process.

Such a political tug-of-war and lack of public participation has prompted non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and proreform activists to call for the setting up of an independent constitutional commission.

An NGO coalition, headed by the Center for Electoral Reform (Cetro), insisted that the commission had to be granted full authority to draft a new constitution.

The existence of the commission, Cetro argued, would not be a threat to the authority of the MPR as the draft would be presented to the MPR for approval. Should the MPR reject the draft, the entire electorate would have to be given a chance to have the final say through a national referendum. The campaign, however, failed to get MPR support.

According to Buyung, Amien Rais gave a positive response to demands on Tuesday for the creation of a constitutional commission.