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Many want to extend Jokowi's term. It’s a slippery slope and the consequences could be dire
Yet some Indonesian politicians still managed to drown out the barrage of news coming out of Ukraine over the weekend with their proposal to allow President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo to serve beyond the expiration of his term in 2024.
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Indonesia's President Joko Widodo (front right) inspects troops during a ceremony marking the 74th anniversary of the Indonesian Military (TNI) at Halim air force base in Jakarta on Oct. 5, 2019. (AFP/Bay Ismoyo)
W
ith the earth-shattering impacts of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, it should have been very difficult to find any news that could draw people’s attention from the fresh conflict currently taking place in the eastern part of Europe.
Yet some Indonesian politicians still managed to drown out the barrage of news coming out of Ukraine over the weekend with their proposal to allow President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo to serve beyond the expiration of his term in 2024.
The proposal, expressed by the leadership of the Golkar Party, the National Mandate Party (PAN) and the National Awakening Party (PKB), was met with swift condemnation not only from civil society but also from other major political parties, including the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P).
The outrage was so great that over the weekend, people began taking to social media, venting their anger with hashtags calling President Jokowi to wrap up his term in 2024.
The problem with this new proposal was that no one was asking for it and no one wants it, because it is now certain that Indonesia will have a general election in 2024 following a deal struck by the House of Representatives and the government regarding a balloting schedule.
And with the news about Ukraine trending, the controversy is certainly a serious enough problem that Indonesians could divert their mental energy to express their opposition toward the anti-democratic proposal.
We can also suspect that Indonesians, while watching the horror in Ukraine, are sensible enough to see there is in fact a connection between this war in a faraway land with democracy, or to be more precise, the lack of it in Russia.
