Presidential Issue 3 Periods Considered Dirty Politics

ILLUSTRATION / President Jokowi

JAKARTA - Political analyst Pangi Syarwi Chaniago said that the issue of extending the presidential term is not new. This discourse has been blown together with the proposed 5th amendment to the 1945 Constitution, which has so far not been successful.

"The discourse of the 5th amendment has actually been pushed for a long time by many circles, the reason is that there are many sectors that need fundamental improvements that can only be pursued through the amendment to the 1945 Constitution," Pangi said to VOI, Wednesday, March 17.

However, he continued, these proposals had not been seriously considered and had real political work. This is because amendments are not considered to be the urgent agenda and needs of the people.

"The amendments are not comprehensive. The amendments only include issues of the elite and the interests of power alone," said Pangi.

Likewise with the term of office of the president. He considered this agenda to be inserted and rolled into a public discourse that reaps pros and cons.

"If we reflect on the various proposals related to amendments that have not agreed on any agenda. So it is not impossible that changes in the presidential term will become an external agenda which will become the main target of certain groups, smuggled articles designed by cukong, oligarchs and capital owners," he explained. Pangi.

Do you need a limited amendment to the 1945 Constitution? Pangi reminded that this proposal was not meant to promote certain interests.

"We remind you again, not to let state institutions and state policies get caught up in discussing the interests of individuals who wish to perpetuate their power," he said.

If it is forced to make the fifth amendment to the 1945 Constitution, then the discourse of a 3-term presidential office is deemed unfit for discussion.

"Apart from this agenda being insignificant and substantial, this proposal demonstrates the ignorance and dirty political ambitions that once dragged us to the brink of authoritarianism," said the Executive Director of the Voxpol Center Research and Consulting.

Pangi emphasized that the proposed discourse was not feasible and contradicts the goal of reform which calls for a limitation on the term of office of the president.

"The rule of struggle for our purification presidential system is to limit the term of office of the president," he said.

Moreover, until this issue reoccurred, the public had never heard of any substantive and rational reasons why the presidential term should be extended.

"We need reasons that make more sense (commen sense) instead of leading political debates and discourse into support like the opposition versus the government or the last presidential election debate which was unproductive and minus argumentative," he said.

But according to him, the public suspects that the issue of a 3-term presidential term is being prepared seriously even though it does not have a solid foundation.

"Then why is the discourse on adding a presidential term blown every year? I respect the president whose statements and comments and the right to reply remain consistent and have not changed to this day. This has become a digital track record," he said.

"Do not let, like past events, the offer came to be a presidential candidate, initially not interested, not thought about, not interested, suddenly became a presidential candidate," he added.

This suspicion, according to him, can be read from a number of government political steps that lead to the accumulation of absolute political power by rallying and building a fat and deadly coalition of the opposition, control of the mass media and new-media (social media, ed), the formation of public discourse and the accompaniment of opinion. public.

"Checking the waves or testing the water has started, to zoom in on the response of public opinion to see the level of pros and cons in the community regarding the discourse," explained the political observer from West Sumatra.

In addition, according to Pangi, referring to all the steps that have been taken, amendments to the 1945 Constitution are very possible and easy to implement.

"How could it not, the parliament has been controlled, the opposition is between the existence and the non-existent, the discourse has been prepared to lead public opinion with the control of the media. President for 3 periods, the MPR is just knocking the hammer," said Pangi.

Regarding the president who refuses, for Pangi this is not a major and important variable. Because if the constitution has been changed and with the same expression, the events of the previous rulers "this is by the will of the people" will all change, which initially pretended to be embarrassed in the end they also agreed.

"A simple question, related a few days ago, the president's comments saying 'the constitution mandates 2 terms, we must protect it together', what if the constitution is changed suddenly ?," said Pangi.