Page 107 - BUKU A CENTURY OF PARLIAMENTARY LIFE IN INDONESIA

A CENTURY OF PARLIAMENTARY LIFE
IN INDONESIA

FORMATION OF THE TEMPORARY

PEOPLE’S REPRESENTATIVE COUNCIL OF

THE REPUBLIC OF INDONESIA (DPRS RI)

The Statement Charter by the President of RIS Soekarno regarding the formati-
on of the Unitary State of the Republic of Indonesia also marked the end of the

federal state.

THE change in the country’s form impacted the formation of the Provi-
sional DPR (DPRS), which officially began its term of office on August 16,
1950. The formation of the DPRS in the early days of Liberal Democracy
was agreed upon in the 1950 Constitution.

The provisional constitution stated that Indonesia’s sovereignty lay in the
hands of the people and was carried out by the government together
with the People’s Representative Council. The Senate was formed when
the federal state was abolished or merged into the DPRS.

Based on Article 56 of the 1950 Constitution, the DPRS would represent
all Indonesian people, each member representing every 300,000 of the
country’s native population. As for minority representation, Article 58,
paragraph 1 of the 1950 Constitution stipulated that at least nine mem-
bers would represent the ethnic Chinese, six represented the ethnic Eu-
ropean, and three represented the ethnic Arab.

The mechanism for selecting the DPRS members was agreed upon
through general elections. However, in the period leading to the general
election, as stated in Article 77 of the 1950 Constitution, DPRS members
should consist of: former members of the RIS DPR, former members of
the RIS Senate, members of the Central Indonesian National Commit-
tee Working Committee (BP-KNIP), and the Supreme Advisory Council
(DPA) RI. The inclusion of the DPA RI as part of the DPRS was based on
the consideration that the DPA was a central council accustomed to pro-
viding advice to the Indonesian government on the government’s politi-
cal direction and legislative action.

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