Luhut Says 110 Million Citizens Want Election Postponed, Rocky Gerung: This Means That The Remaining 160 Million Want Jokowi To Resign

Illustration. Citizens' fingers were dipped in ink after exercising their voting rights in the 2019 Election (Antara/M Adimaja)

JAKARTA - Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs and Investment (Menko Marves) Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan claims that he has big data containing 110 million netizens who want the 2024 General Election (Election) to be postponed for a number of reasons, one of which is the economy is on the rise.

Political observer Rocky Gerung quipped that the total population of Indonesia still wants to implement the constitution by holding the 2024 general election.

Rocky gives a witty analogy. According to him, the total population of Indonesia is 270 people. If it is reduced by the amount of big data claimed by Luhut, 160 million Indonesians still want President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) to resign in 2024.

"That's the point. So if you ask me what is the basis for the president to resign, yes, the answer is easy because 110 million people want the president to continue, meaning the remaining 270 minus 110, meaning the remaining 160 million [want to resign]. It's better to resign, it's easy," he said in the Rocky Gerung Official account, Friday 18 March.

Regarding the extension of the president's term of office which is still rolling, Rocky hopes that President Jokowi will take a firm stance on his subordinates in the government who continue to talk about the discourse.

Rocky considers one of the things Coordinating Minister Luhut needs to be warned. Although Luhut often mentions that President Jokowi is obedient to the constitution, he still wants elections to be held in 2024 and rejects the idea of a three-term president, said Rocky Luhut, who continues to campaign for the opposite.

"This is something that must make us careful, even though Pak Luhut thinks Pak Jokowi doesn't want it, Pak Luhut himself continues to campaign for it," said Rocky.

However, if the discourse on the postponement of the election continues, Rocky encourages President Jokowi to remove the position currently occupied by Luhut. In addition to continuing to talk about the idea, Rocky views Luhut as frequently making controversial statements about postponing general elections which are regulated in the constitution every five years.

"So the orchestra is led by Mr. Luhut, and if Mr. President doesn't agree with Mr. Luhut, Mr. Luhut should have also reprimanded him, or reshuffled. But Mr. Luhut is still, 'I do have the data, but I can't open it'. So Mr. Luhut still insists that The extension doesn't make sense, what doesn't make sense is acceleration. That's what Pak Luhut said," he said.

Previously, Luhut spoke about postponing the 2024 election. He questioned the reason why President Jokowi had to step down from office in 2024.

"The reason for the delay, I want to ask you, what was the reason for making Pak Jokowi step down? Is there a reason?" said Luhut to reporters in Jakarta quoted on Wednesday, March 16.

Luhut argues, many people question why they have to spend so large a budget to organize the 2024 simultaneous elections. Moreover, at this time, all parties are still busy to restore the economy.

"Why do you want to spend so much money on the presidential election now. 'Ma'am later. We are still busy with COVID, the situation is still like this', and so on," said Luhut.