According To CSIS, The Proposal To Postpone The 2024 Election Must Be Rejected Because The Reason Is Illogical

JAKARTA - The head of the Department of Politics and Social Change at CSIS Indonesia, Arya Fernandes, conveyed that the proposal of several political party leaders who wanted to postpone the 2024 General Election should be rejected by the public because it is unreasonable and undemocratic.

According to him, the election must still be held according to schedule because it is a constitutional mandate that requires a limitation on the president's term of office and powers.

“In the presidential system (which is adopted by Indonesia) there is a doctrine of limiting power. The goal is to give the possibility of political regeneration, then leadership circulation, more importantly so that executive officials do not make undemocratic policies," said Arya when speaking at a virtual discussion event that was attended in Jakarta, Saturday as reported by Antara.

During the event, he also rejected the reasons for the political party leaders who wanted the 2024 election to be postponed.

Arya conveyed that there were two arguments used by the political party leaders to postpone the election, namely maintaining the momentum of economic recovery, and the high level of public satisfaction with the government's performance.

Arya responded that the economic reasons did not make sense, because economic growth had improved.

“Economic data (shows) that we are now growing and improving. Economic growth, our GDP (Gross Domestic Product) year on year in 2020 is -2.07 percent, while in 2021 it is +3.39 percent. We managed to grow. This means that the economy is improving,” said Arya.

He continued to explain that several financial institutions, including Bank Indonesia, even predicted that economic growth could reach 6 percent in 2023-2024.

Then, regarding people's satisfaction with the government's performance, Arya explained that the survey results cannot be an excuse to extend the presidential term or postpone the election.

A number of survey results, such as those issued by Indicator, show that the majority of respondents reject the extension of the presidential term of office.

"The use of the excuse of public satisfaction to encourage (extension) the term of office is clearly unreasonable and not based on evidence, because the evidence is that the majority of the public do not want an extension of the term of office (of the president)," explained Arya Fernandes.

Therefore, he urges all parties to reject the idea because apart from the illogical reasons used, the discourse is also an undemocratic act.

“The push to postpone the election or the push to extend the term of office denies democratic commitments. Our commitment is marked by what is called a fixed term limit,” explained the Political Researcher of CSIS Indonesia.

Not only that, the discourse on postponing the 2024 General Election also denies the spirit and agenda of reform.