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MPR, DPD resume push for constitutional amendment
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An official from the General Elections Commission (KPU) introduces five different ballots at the KPU building in Central Jakarta in 2018. (JP/Dhoni Setiawan)
The People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) has once again raised the idea of amending the Constitution, claiming that the nation must discuss procedures for delaying elections in a crisis and grant more power to the legislative body.
After dropping an amendment plan last year in response to public fears that it could lead to an arbitrary extension of President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo’s tenure in the nation’s highest office, the MPR has resumed advocating for a fifth Constitutional amendment.
In a speech on Wednesday during the annual state of the nation address, MPR Speaker Bambang Soesatyo proposed altering the nation’s supreme legal document, saying it was “time for the country to reflect on the arrangement of its state institutions”.
Bambang, a member of the Golkar Party, said that “ideally” the MPR, which was the highest lawmaking body under the New Order regime, should have its power returned so that it could make emergency decisions during times of crisis.
Golkar was the dominant party under the authoritarian New Order regime.
Bambang said the country had no established procedure for postponing an election in the event of an emergency and proposed that a constitutional amendment determine which state institution had the authority to do so and how it would occur.
