Presidential tenure

Article 7 of our 1945 Constitution says: "President and Vice President hold the office for a five-year term, (they) can be reelected afterwards".

I believe our founding fathers knew very well why they wrote this article in such a way. They wanted to leave it ambiguous for us to suit it to our future needs. This implies that it does not violate anything if we now want to interpret this article differently to suit our future needs -- for example, to limit the presidential tenure to two five-year terms.

Let's reflect on the advantage of having only two five-year terms for the presidency.

First, anybody who is elected president would definitely try to do his or her best in a first five-year term to ensure winning a reelection bid for a second term.

Second, anybody who is reelected president for a second five- year term would definitely also try to do his or her best during a second term. Why? Simply because a president would want to leave office as the best leader the country has ever had! Who would benefit? Definitely the people! If we have presidents who could only serve a maximum of two five-year terms, it would increase the possibility for us to have good presidents.

Third, with a two five-year term maximum for the presidency, we would guarantee the emergence of new leaders from different walks of life suitable for any future needs or standards of the nation. The continuation of stable leadership would also be safeguarded -- hence social, economic and political stability would be guaranteed. We can look at the United States of America's tradition that allows the emergence of new leaders, smooth successions of power, and guaranteed stability as an example. We do not see any grooming of leaders there, but the leaders-to-be strive to emerge with, perhaps, some help from friends, fans and supporters.

Fourth, a two five-year term maximum should be considered as sufficient for any president to implement his or her program. Moreover, unlimited power holding may turn a person into a dictator, which would disturb social, economic and political stability.

H.W. PIENANDORO

Bogor, West Java