Guess The Mastermind Behind The Discourse On Postponing The Election, Luhut Or Jokowi Himself?

JAKARTA - The discourse on postponing the 2024 General Election is getting hotter after the Coordinating Minister for Maritime Investment Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan as an element of the government also voiced this. Luhut's claim regarding the big data of 110 million social media users who want the 2024 election to be postponed is now polemic.

Some parties suspect that Luhut is behind the scenario regarding the postponement of the election. Interestingly, many judges that President Joko Widodo is behind this issue.

The reason is that Jokowi's attitude has softened and seems to be enjoying the scenario through the proposals of the general chairman of the political parties who want the 2024 election to be postponed. In fact, the president once stated that anyone who launched a discourse on extending the presidential term meant a slap in the face.

So, who is the mastermind behind the discourse of postponing the election? Is it Luhut or Jokowi? Or is there another party?

In response to this polemic, President Joko Widodo was asked to strongly rebuke Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan who was considered wrong and had no authority to inflame the discourse of postponing the 2024 General Election.

"Luhut's actions are actually oversight, meaning that he is not within his jurisdiction. Luhut is only the coordinating minister for maritime and investment affairs, he has no authority, freedom of speech like a political party instead of being a spokesman for a political party is a big mistake for public officials," said the political observer and Executive Director of Indonesia Political Opinion (IPO) Dedi Kurnia Syah, when contacted by VOI, Wednesday, March 16.

"So it is appropriate for President Jokowi to rebuke very strongly so that Luhut does not interfere in political affairs because their territory is the executive," he continued.

Even in the executive area, continued Dedi, Luhut does not have any authority because there are Coordinating Ministers for Political, Legal and Security Affairs Mahfud Md and Minister of Home Affairs Tito Karnavian who are far more appropriate and appropriate to discuss political matters. In particular, the discourse on postponing the 2024 General Election.

Therefore, according to Dedi, as long as Jokowi does not reprimand Luhut, it is reasonable to suspect that what he did was based on the blessing of the president himself.

"As long as there is no warning, the effort to postpone this end is with the president," he said.

Moreover, said Dedi, the president's attitude was softened when he responded to the proposed postponement of the election. This means that there is an assumption that the President enjoys Luhut's discourse, which could be true.

"Including the president has started to give his approval even though it is implied that the effort to delay this election," he said.

Dedi suspects that there are other actors behind the scenario of postponing the election. Because it's impossible for Luhut to do it alone, let alone the General Chairman of the PKB Muhaimin Iskandar and the General Chairperson of PAN Zulkifli Hasan.

"These are small figures in the national circle. From the political parties perspective (PKB and PAN) they are not dominant political parties, moreover PAN whose portion is small the portion of influence is also not large, so like it or not we have to look for more powerful figures behind them, of course, it is in their territory. and the palace area," he explained.

Dedi again reminded that as long as President Jokowi does not directly order the Coordinating Minister for Political, Legal, and Security Affairs and the Minister of Home Affairs for the discourse of postponing the election, the President will hide from this thirst for power.

"So then Luhut spoke because if it was the Coordinating Minister for Political, Legal and Security Affairs who spoke or initiated it, he would officially represent the country and of course, Jokowi would be the suspect," said Dedi Kurnia Syah.

Meanwhile, a political observer and executive director of the Voxpol Center for Research and Consulting, Pangi Syarwi Chaniago, emphasized the maneuvering of a number of state officials and chairmen of political parties who wanted to postpone the election was tantamount to an attempt to violate the constitution.

Pangi then summarized the proposals for postponing the election which he claimed was the will of the people, starting from the Minister of Investment, Bahlil Lahadalia, who on behalf of businessmen asked for the 2024 election to be postponed.

Followed by the General Chairperson of the PKB, Muhaimin Iskandar or Cak Imin, who proposed that the election be postponed for one or two years. Cak Imin claimed to have voiced representatives from MSME businesses who asked for the election to be postponed on the grounds of economic recovery.

"Who is the entrepreneur? Who is the MSME business is also still a mystery," Pangi said in his statement to VOI, Wednesday, March 16.

Cak Imin's proposal was then welcomed by the General Chairperson of Golkar, Airlangga Hartato. Airlangga said that during a visit to the Siak area, he met with oil palm farmers and heard the aspirations of the farmers who asked for the election to be postponed. The reason is that the price of palm oil is good, so they are worried that if the president changes, the price of palm oil will drop.

"It doesn't stop there, the general chairman of PAN, it's very unfortunate, it's sad that as a party that was born in the reform era, Zulkifli Hasan has also voiced the postponement of the election," Pangi continued.

It didn't stop at the head of political parties, instead, the discourse of postponing the election was echoed by people close to President Joko Widodo. Namely the Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs and Investment, Luhut Binsar Panjaitan. He made a scene by claiming to have big data of 110 million people's votes who wanted the 2024 election to be postponed.

"Luhut claims that he has data on people's aspirations to postpone the 2024 election, he said, '110 million of various kinds, Facebook, all kinds, because people play on Twitter, about 110 million,'" Pangi said, imitating Luhut's words.

Pangi then challenged Luhut to open his big data. However, Pangi believes that the data in question does not actually exist.

"Let's challenge Luhut to expose the data, dare if it's not data manipulation? I'm sure that the empirical landscape is the same, the tone of voice is the same, there are other forces that condition the orchestra to be the same," he explained.

From a series of names ranging from Bahlil, Cak Imin, Zulhas, Airlangga, to Luhut who became an orchestra actor about the postponement of the election, Pangi suspects that an architect deliberately designed the issue at the palace.

"In my opinion, it is suspected that the architect of the design for the postponement of the election was in the hands of the government. Were the orchestrators of the list of names above slapping the president in the face? Are they looking for the president's face? Or are they putting the president in a difficult situation? In my opinion, these political parties no longer deserve to be called statesmen, it's sad that those who are supposed to maintain the quality of our democracy have become democratic termites," Pangi explained. Therefore, Pangi considered, there must be an agenda of civil resistance against the orchestrators who designed the discourse on postponing elections or increasing the term of office of the president. Because he said, the agenda for postponing the election was damaging to democratization in Indonesia and was constitutionally flawed.

"It is necessary to incite civil resistance to subvert the interests of the oligarchs who do not want the party to end quickly, do not want to abdicate from their positions which have been limited or regulated by the constitution, namely two 10-year terms," he stressed. "Civil resistance is one way to save our democracy, so that inclusive democratization can be realized, so that democracy is not held hostage to the clutches of oligarchic groups who want to perpetuate their power for a long time," added Pangi.