JAKARTA - An expert on constitutional law from the Jentera Indonesian Law School (STH), Bivitri Susanti, assessed that the voice of the majority of netizens who questioned the truth could be used as a basis for changing the constitution so that the 2024 General Election (Pemilu) was postponed.
The netizen's voice was previously revealed by the Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs and Investment, Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan. Luhut claims that there is big data containing 110 million Twitter netizens who want the 2024 election to be postponed.
According to Bivitri, Luhut's claim is still not valid. Luhut has not disclosed the source of the big data he claims so that the truth and the hypothesis taken are not necessarily correct.
"It's not always the majority's claim, let alone the majority of netizens and the method can be debated, it can be used to trample the constitution. Well, I think that's why we have to move together so that we don't continue to be fooled," said Bivitri in a discussion entitled 'Democracy' Constitutional Under Threat', Wednesday 16 March.
Furthermore, Bivitri said, those who want to extend the term of office of President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) do not need to use the excuse that the 2024 election disrupts the revival of the economy after being hit by the COVID-19 pandemic. For him, the most important thing is to uphold the constitution so that it does not set a bad precedent in the future.
"Why do we talk about Indonesia in 2045, industry 4.0, 2045, they say there is a demographic bonus, but if we, our younger siblings and our children and grandchildren are fooled in this way, what do we want to achieve in 2025? by the ruler who seems to be with his mouth then everything will be true," he said.
Bivitri reminded that changing the term of office of the president to more than two terms is an effort of coercion. There is a current trend, he said, if his actions are wrong, the regulations are forced to be changed.
"Perhaps you remember the incident when the Rector of UI, the PP was changed. So, don't let something unconstitutional happen until now, but the constitution has been changed," he stressed.
On the same occasion, an expert on constitutional law from Gadjah Mada University (UGM) Zainal Arifin Mochtar revealed that history has never recorded a democratic country ever destroying the constitution by changing the term of office of the president.
He explained that the extension of the president's term of office by changing the constitution is usually adopted by authoritarian countries. The ideology adopted by the country is usually authoritarian, absolute power is held by the government or a handful of political elites.
"No democracy likes to play with terms of office, usually examples of countries that are far from democracy. For example, Venezuela, Turkey, Russia, and some Sub-Saharan African countries that push for a third term, " he said.
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