On replacement of the President

On replacement of the President

From Suara Karya

The statement of the Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) chairman in Surabaya
rejecting the presidential replacement without a general election
was hard to understand as the 1945 Constitution enables a
replacement without an election, such as in the 1967 Special
Session of the Provisional Consultative Assembly (MPRS) when
first president Sukarno's mandate was withdrawn. The president
was not directly elected by the people but by the People's
Consultative Assembly (MPR), so constitutionally, the latter
reserves the right to replace the president if he violates the
Constitution and State Policy Guidelines.

In the United States, the president is directly elected by the
people and can be unseated by the congress in a joint session
between the House of Representatives and the Senate without an
election. President Nixon in 1974 had to withdraw before the U.S.
Congress impeached him.

Abdurrahman Wahid, or Gus Dur, was elected by the MPR, not
directly by the people. Furthermore, Gus Dur, as an MPR member,
is not a candidate elected by the people through a political
party. He was appointed by the General Election Committee (KPU)
as a representative of a group, and during the time of
appointment there was controversy, because as a representative of
a group, Gus Dur is also the declarer of the National Awakening
Party. So it is absurd that the general chairman of the NU
rejects the presidential replacement without a general election
when a president whose MPR membership was not obtained through an
election but only through an appointment, was urged to withdraw.

SUBAGIO ANAM

Legislator

of PDI-P Faction

Jakarta