The Speaker Of The MPR Called The Presidential Issue 3 Periods Only The Political Adventure 'Halu' Scenario

RI DPR Building (Photo: Irfan Meidianto / VOI)

JAKARTA - Chairman of the Indonesian People's Consultative Assembly Bambang Soesatyo (Bamsoet) emphasized that the scenario of changing the presidential term to three terms had never been discussed in his institution.

Apart from being groundless, during the current term of the MPR, such discourse has never appeared. In fact, in the process of discussing the Principles of State Policy (PPHN) that was held by the MPR through a dozen Focus Group Discussions (FGD).

"We have never once questioned the term of office of the president. To prove or find the truth, please ask the public to ask all the FGD participants," said Bamsoet to reporters, Friday, March 19.

Bamsoet revealed that the MPR is currently focusing on the issue of the pandemic and economic recovery because it is directly related to the welfare of the people. The MPR also concentrates more on the progress of digital transformation in the country.

"Because this problem is related to the readiness of our children and grandchildren to face the changing times. I invite all parties to remain focused on ending the pandemic and working to restore the economy," said Bamsoet.

Even the former chairman of the DPR said the discourse on changing the term of office by the MPR was too far-fetched and was just a hallucination. This is because, entering its second year, the 2019-2024 MPR will only focus on preparing to bring back the State Policy Guidelines (GBHN) model, namely PPHN.

"The issue of a three-term president is only a scenario from political adventurers," said the Golkar Party politician.

Furthermore, Bamsoet explained, the limited amendments were the MPR Recommendations for the 2014-2019 Period which had been 'mandated' to the MPR for the 2019-2024 Period. This agenda, he said, did not mention the term or term of the president's office at all.

"Presenting PPHN aims to strengthen the presidential system. Presidential elections will still be conducted directly with a five-year term and can be re-elected for the next five years," he explained.

More than that, with PPHN, the nation-state has a sustainable development direction and planner, from one elected president to the next elected president.

Apart from that, said Bamsoet, the previous MPR and the present MPR had conducted a series of discussions with various groups. Including community leaders, political party leaders, experts, and academics.

"All the discussions or FGDs never touched on the addition of the presidential term from two to three terms," he said.

The current leadership of the MPR, added Bamsoet, has held dozens of FGDs with the theme "Restoration of the State Direction in the Pancasila Paradigm" and the Repositioning of the State Direction as a Place for People's Aspirations "

FGD, he continued, aims to receive input from experts and academics. In their paper, there was not a single word that suggested an extension of the term or term of office of the president.

"So the focus of the MPR is only on presenting PPHN, not drafting a scenario to extend the term of office of the president," said Bamsoet.