Amended 1945 Constitution Rejected

Jakarta, Indonesia (News Today) - Muhammadiyah Chairman Din Syamsuddin disagreed with the ruling Democrat Party (PD) lawmaker’s proposed amandment to the 1945 Constitution for paving the way for President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to run for a third term in 2014.

"Extending the presidential leadership term is similar to turning the clock of our democracy back," he told newsmen after paying a courtesy visit to Vice President Boediono here Friday.

Din Syamsuddin said extending the presidential leadership term would have indeed "hurt" Indonesia’s democracy as mandated by the reformation movement eleven years ago. The amended 1945 Constitution had restricted the Indonesian presidential leadership terms to two times.

"So please don’t do that. Don’t even think about it (amending the state constitution to pave the way for the incumbent president to run for the third term in 2014-eds," he said.

This controversial discourse was firstly proposed by Ruhut Sitompul, legislator respesenting PD faction in the House of Representatives. Ruhut Sitompul had recently said he would propose an amendment to the 1945 Constitution to extend the tenure of the president to three terms considering that at present there was no figure who could match President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono as a national leader.

Sitompul’s idea had triggered rejections from other members of parliament. The National Mandate Party (PAN) politician Teguh Juwarno, for instance, rejected the idea, saying that it was a setback in Indonesia’s democracy.

"This discourse is a setback in democracy. So, it does not need to be given serious response because it would be counterproductive and a waste time and energy," he said.

For Legislator Nurul Arifin of the Golkar Party, Ruhut Sitompul’s idea was the betrayal of Indonesia’s reforms.

"The 1945 Constitution has been amended. It was done in the wake of reforms calls for a change in democracy which perpetuate authoritarianism," he said.

In response to this controversial idea, President Yudhoyono himself had confirmed that he would be consistent with the end of his presidential leadership term of 2009-2014.

Source : kompas

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