Among the constitutional bodies are the People’s Consultative Assembly (MPR), House of Representative (HoR), Regional Representative Assembly, Supreme Court and Constitutional Court. These are products of four-times amendments of the 1945 constitution.

Much of the President’s authority is being reduced through the amendments, providing more power for the parliament.

The President is the head of state and also the head of the government. The President is elected once every five years by the MPR, and may be re-elected for a maximum term of five years.

A presidential and Vice-presidential election was held in October 1999, following the election of representatives to the MPR on June 7, 1999. This election saw a fairer and freer voting process than had ever taken place in Indonesia. It was heralded as the first truly democratic election in Indonesia since 1955. In view of this democratic process, Indonesia is regarded as the fourth largest democracy in the world.

LEGISLATIVE SYSTEM

Indonesian law can be characterized as part of the civil law system. Modern Indonesian law is quite complex due to the pluralistic nature of Indonesian society and the fact that the law is founded on customary and local law, Dutch law, as well as laws enacted after independence. Since independence, there has been a general trend towards replacing out-dated Dutch laws with those enacted by the legislature, but many Dutch laws and structural influences remain.  Recent events have also seen a marked increase in legislation designed to deal with the economic realities confronting present day Indonesia.

The 1945 Constitution is the supreme law of Indonesia.  After the Constitution, there is a hierarchy of laws, listed here in the order of their level of authority : MPR Resolutions; DPR Enacted Laws; Temporary Regulations in Lieu of Law; Government Regulations; Presidential Decrees; Regional Decrees.

MPR resolutions are implemented through laws enacted by the DPR. After enactment, the laws are published in the formal statute book. These laws may be made more specific through Government Regulations or Ministerial Decrees.


JUDICIAL SYSTEM

Constitutional Court is theoretically, the highest authoritative court in Indonesia. It has a final, binding authority in examining the constitutionality of laws. The Indonesian Judicial system is composed of five types of lower courts, and a Supreme Court. The lower courts include: General Courts (consisting of two levels: the State District Court and State High Court); Military Courts (consisting of two levels, the Military Court and Military High Court); Administrative Courts (consisting of two levels, the Administrative Court and the Administrative High Court); Religious Courts (consisting of two levels, the Religious Court and the Religious High Court); and the Commercial Court (a specialized court for hearing insolvency cases with the possibility of appeal to a special bankruptcy tribunal of the Supreme Court). The Supreme Court is the final court of appeal in Indonesia. The Courts are independent from the executive and legislative arms of the government.