MPR Chairman Affirms PPHN Serves as a Philosophical Guide for the State
The People’s Consultative Assembly (MPR) is currently examining the appropriate format and type of legal instrument so that the State Policy Guidelines (PPHN) can be binding upon all state institutions.
MPR Chairman Ahmad Muzani revealed that the draft concept of the PPHN was handed directly to President Prabowo Subianto during a meeting at the Presidential Palace on Monday (3/8).
Muzani said the President welcomed the PPHN document and expressed hope that the formulation of this state governance guide would soon be enacted as an official legal product. “In principle, the President accepted the key points well and hopes that this will soon become a legal product. The debate and discussion in the joint meeting earlier was about which legal product could be used to establish this state policy as a binding instrument,” Muzani said at the Parliament Complex in Senayan, Jakarta, on Wednesday (5/8).
Muzani emphasised that the PPHN differs from the National Long-Term Development Plan (RPJPN). The PPHN is positioned as a philosophical direction and basic guidance for state administration, rather than merely a technical development guideline.
However, the MPR faces juridical challenges regarding its legal form. Referring to the Constitutional Court (MK) ruling of 2023, an MPR Decree (TAP MPR) can no longer bind parties outside the MPR’s internal scope.
“The PPHN is a philosophical direction for our state governance so that it becomes a matter of compliance for all state institutions in managing the people’s trust. Therefore, we need time to find a legal product that can be used to make it binding upon all state institutions,” he explained.
The drafting of the PPHN document is part of completing a mandate that has been under development since the MPR leadership of the 2019–2024 period and was successfully finalised during the current MPR term.
Regarding the substance of democracy that the President touched upon, Muzani confirmed that the PPHN only contains fundamental principles concerning democracy in general, without entering the technical realm of regional head elections (Pilkada).
The Head of State has fully entrusted the constitutional mechanism within the MPR to establish the PPHN as a guide for future governments.
The Constitution should not be amended too frequently, but it also should not be tightly closed to amendment so that it can keep pace with changes and developments of the times.
MPR Deputy Chairman Edhie Baskoro Yudhoyono, known as Ibas, stated that the draft of the State Policy Guidelines (PPHN) has been completed and will soon be discussed by the parliamentary factions and the Regional Representatives Council (DPD).
MPR Deputy Chairman Fadel Muhammad said the MPR leadership has unanimously agreed to the amendment of the 1945 Constitution and the State Policy Guidelines (PPHN).
The PPHN is considered important as a guarantee of alignment and continuity of development between the central and regional governments, between regions, and across periods.