Presidential tenure

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