DPR Mulai Bahas Proposal Perpanjangan Jabatan Kades 9 Tahun

The Village Heads held a demonstration at the Indonesian Parliament Building on Wednesday (25/1) (ANTARA)

JAKARTA - Deputy Chairman of the Legislation Body (Baleg) of the DPR RI Achmad Baidowi said that his party had started a meeting to draft the revision of Law Number 6 of 2014 concerning Villages (UU Desa) in response to the aspirations of village heads (kades) who wanted an extension of office from 6 to 9 years. "The meeting for the preparation of the revision of Law 6/2014 on Villages is in response to the aspirations of the village heads submitted to the DPR some time ago," said Awiek, quoted by ANTARA, Wednesday 21 June. He also mentioned that the Legeg DPR RI had formed a working committee (panja) for the preparation of the Village Bill. "Furthermore, he will listen to information from related parties and experts," he said. Awiek explained that the revision of the Village Law was cumulatively open as the impact of the decision of the Constitutional Court (MK) Number 15/PUUU-XI/2023. Thus, he continued, although it was not included in the Priority National Legislation Program (Prolegnas) of 2023, the revision of the Village Law could be initiated as a consequence of the Constitutional Court's decision. He said that a number of articles proposed were regulated in the revision of the Village Law among others, article 34 related to the determination of a single candidate. Then article 39, it was proposed that the term of office of the village head be extended to nine years, and after that it could be re-selected for the same term. "The explanation of nine years so that the remaining election conflict (Corruption of Village Heads) could be subsided because the remaining six years were deemed insufficient. In addition, the proposed revision of the Village Law regarding the extension of the village head term was submitted by thousands of village heads in front of the DPR RI Building, Jakarta.

President Joko Widodo, invited village heads to convey their aspirations regarding the term of office to the DPR RI. The Ministry of Home Affairs (Kemendagri) also reviewed the provisions for extending the term of office of the village head (kades) in the proposed revision of Law Number 6 of 2014 concerning Villages. "We studied what the positive was, what was the negative. If there are many positives, why not? But if there are many disadvantages, yes, maybe it remains in the position of the Village Law now, six years times three, so 18 years, it's also a long time. There are positive (and) negative. We, the principle from the Ministry of Home Affairs, we studied," said Minister of Home Affairs (Mendagri) Tito Karnavian in Jakarta some time ago.