BEM SI Demo Moves To Front Of DPR Building, Refly Harun: No Need To Worry About Other Aspirations, For Example Jokowi Resigns

Students distribute flowers to the police during a demonstration at the DPR Building during the inauguration of legislative members in 2019 (Antara/Laily R)

JAKARTA - Constitutional law observer Refly Harun assesses that the All-Indonesian Student Executive Board (BEM SI) does not need to worry about other community groups expressing different aspirations at one point.

Refly responded to the move of the BEM SI action from the Jakarta Palace to the front of the DPR Building on April 11.

The reason is that BEM SI does not want the student movement to be used by certain groups and the key to changing the constitution is to smooth out the extension of the president's term of office by demanding that the people's representatives do not destroy the state constitution by carrying out amendments.

"We don't know what's going on among the BEM, if indeed there will be a mass action like this, there will be many community groups, which of course cannot be prevented from expressing their respective aspirations," he said via Refly Harun's YouTube account, Monday, April 11.

Refly said that what BEM SI needs to worry about is that their actions are ridden by groups that have the potential to disrupt an orderly demonstration.

"Actually, BEM doesn't need to worry if there are community groups who express different aspirations. Because this is democratic, what should not be anarchistic actions that should not allow them to be infiltrated, that must be prevented," he added.

He said it was legal if there were different aspirations in the demonstrations held by BEM SI, such as demanding that President Joko Widodo step down. Refly reminded that the demand was initiated by a group of mothers who visited the front of the DPR building when the members of the council were on recess in February this year.

"But if there are different aspirations, they don't need to be the same, including aspirations for example asking Jokowi to step down. Those are aspirations that are permissible and should be respected. Don't forget that mothers have conveyed that, for example to the DPR, or the Nusantara V building at that time," he said. .

However, Refly hopes that the demonstration initiated by BEM SI in front of the DPR Building today will run smoothly without being infiltrated by parties who want to disrupt the situation. Members of the DPR as people's representatives also want to meet with BEM SI to absorb the aspirations that have been conveyed.

"Hopefully everything will go well, smoothly, even if you change locations, hopefully your aspirations will be conveyed," he said.