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View all search resultsPresidential term limits in spotlight, again
The controversy on presidential term limits has resurfaced after accusations that there are constitutional maneuvers to enable President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo to serve for his third term.
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People’s Consultative Assembly members attend a plenary meeting on Aug. 14, 2020. (Antara/Akbar Nugroho Gumay)
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or the second time in just over two years, the discourse on extending presidential term limits resurfaced recently after a claim by a staunch critic of President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo that moves were being made to amend the 1945 Constitution, a claim that the President, along with several officials, has insisted is not true.
Former People’s Consultative Assembly speaker Amien Rais, who late last year established the Islam-based Ummah Party, recently made a controversial remark alleging a plan was in place to revise the Constitution to allow presidents and vice presidents to be elected for a third term.
In 2019 Assembly Speaker Bambang Soesatyo, a Golkar Party politician, indicated that he would seek limited amendments to the Constitution to revive the Assembly’s authority to set the direction of national development strategy through the long-defunct policy framework (GBHN).
The discussion on constitutional amendments then snowballed to other topics, including extending the presidential term limit and scrapping direct presidential elections.
This prompted Jokowi, who was initially open to the idea of a limited amendment, to issue a strong rejection of any amendment proposals, likening them to “a slap in the face”.
It was progovernment party the NasDems that raised the idea of increasing the presidential tenure from two to three five-year terms.
The idea of a constitutional amendment was raised in the second term of then-president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono but it was initiated by the Regional Representatives Council, which sought stronger legislative authority to be on equal footing with the House of Representatives.
