Provisional Constitution of 1950

Provisional Constitution of 1950

The Provisional Constitution of 1950 replaced the Federal Constitution of 1949 when Indonesia unilaterally withdrew from the union with the Netherlands agreed at the Round Table Conference and returned to being a unitary state. It came into force on August 17, 1950. It was abrogated on July 5, 1959 when President Sukarno issued a decree dissolving the Constitutional Assembly and restoring the 1945 Constitution of Indonesia.
The two governments further agreed that the provisional constitution would be submitted to both states' parliaments for approval. If that was obtained, a joint session of both parliaments would be held, at which the president would formally inaugurate the unitary state.
This committee was formally established immediately after the May 19 agreement. It had 14 members, with seven appointed by each government. It was chaired jointly by the RUSI justice minister Soepomo and the Indonesian Republic's prime minister Abdul Halim. Hatta and Abdul Halim had previously agreed that all the members of the RUSI House of Representatives as well as the republic's legislature would be members of the unicameral parliament, with other members to be appointed by the president. The committee eventually decided that in addition, the members of the RUSI senate and the Supreme Advisory Council of the Republic would also be members, resulting in a 236-member house. The committee also decided that Jakarta would be the capital of the state and that the nation would be divided into 10 provinces and two special regions.
After two months of deliberations, the committee agreed on a draft constitution, which after some minor changes, was approved by both governments on July 20. Both parliaments approved it on August 14, three days ahead of the Independence Day anniversary deadline.
Like its predecessor, this constitution would be provisional and would stipulate that a constitutional assembly would produce a definitive document. It provided for a unicameral parliamentary form of government with a cabinet and prime minister held responsible to the parliament and for a President but with no real executive powers.
In 1955 elections were held for the Constitutional Assembly, which was tasked with drawing up a permanent constitution. However, after much wrangling, it failed to agree, with the principal issue being the role of Islam in the new state. In July 1958, army chief-of-staff Abdul Haris Nasution suggested returning to the 1945 Constitution. The army organized demonstrations in favor of this, and the idea gained popularity with a number of political parties. After it had failed to obtain the necessary two-thirds majority for such a return, on July 5, President Sukarno issued a decree dissolving it and restoring the 1945 Constitution of Indonesia.

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