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THIS paper describes and analyses the constitutional amendment debate that has taken place in Indonesia since the fall of Soeharto in 1998. In doing so, it goes back to the roots of the Indonesian Constitution, first enacted in 1945, and traces the genesis and development of issues both of substantive and of symbolic importance that have influenced the recent debates. It tracks in particular the major elements of discussion and disagreement over the three years of the constitutional review begun in 1999 and looks in particular at the sessions of the People's Consultative Assembly (Majelis Perwakilan Rakyat or MPR) which have undertaken the task of enacting the amendment. While it is finalised immediately before the 2002 MPR Annual Session and therefore does not contain the final stages of the story, it concludes that the constitutional review, despite criticisms levelled at it, is likely to bring fundamental change to the way the institutions of Indonesia operate.