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Let’s fight the decline of constitutional democracy
Extension of the presidential term is an unconstitutional effort that fundamentally neglects the basic tenet of our Constitution, namely the sovereignty of the people.
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President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo delivers his remarks during the Business 20 (B20), which was held virtually, from the Bogor Presidential Palace, West Java, on Jan. 27. (Presidential Secretariat Press Bureau/Lukas)
T
he Jakarta Post March 1 commentary titled “Whether the 2024 elections are delayed or not, Jokowi will be king” highlights two key messages. First, the high level of public satisfaction shown in the Kompas national survey, which has been correlated with a wave of high-ranking political parties and hard-line supporters of the President who propose an extension of the presidential term. Second, the valuable lessons from both Sukarno and Suharto’s presidential terms on how democracy should for the umpteenth time, not be betrayed.
Another Post article "Party leaders float proposal to extend Jokowi's term" also provides a profound message, namely the weakening of civil society organizations and political parties in responding to the constitutional issue of presidential term limits, which has led to a division of public opinion.
Then, the paper’s March 5 editorial titled "Two more years" gave two strong messages about the lessons learned from our past experience with the authoritarian ecosystem under the two Presidents and on ways to strengthen our commitment to the upcoming 2024 elections on Feb. 14, 2024.
These three important articles invite us to reflect on our commitment to democracy.
First, there is the question of why the discourse on extending the current presidential term to three periods could betray our commitment to democracy.
This is because the implementation of the presidential term limit has been a long democratic struggle. Article 7 of the original 1945 Constitution did not rigidly stipulate a term limit. Later, two crucial efforts were made to uphold constitutional democracy. The first attempt was through the 1998 People’s Consultative Assembly (MPR) Special Session, named MPR Decree No. XIII/1998 that set limits on the President's term in office.
The second effort was through the first amendment to Article 7 of the 1945 Constitution to ensure it adopted the MPR decree’s provisions. Thus, limiting the presidential term is a political endeavor and a legal necessity in affirming constitutionalism in our democratic ecosystem.
