President's term of office

President's term of office

From Media Indonesia

Media Indonesia's editorial of May 9 seems to belittle the
significance of Golkar's efforts to limit the presidential post
to two terms only. It seems as if Golkar only parroted what
students voiced during their demonstrations.

If the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) approved a limit
on the presidential term of office, it would have a far-reaching
impact. One consequence would be that, theoretically, the power
centered in the hands of the President would be limited. However,
we hope that a change for the better will take place in a
constitutional way. The 1945 Constitution actually allows a
change for the sake of improvement, but narrow-minded leaders
have restricted such provision because they want to maintain
their status quo as long as possible.

A new national consensus should have provisions as follows:

* The preamble of the 1945 Constitution should not be changed.

* The presidential term of office should be limited to two. And
presidential prerogative rights should obtain the approval of the
other supreme institutions: the House of Representatives (DPR)
and the Supreme Advisory Council (DPA).

* All members of the DPR and the MPR should be elected and not
appointed.

All the above mentioned changes should be immediately done
through MPR decrees. Consequently, and for this purpose, the MPR
must convene an extraordinary session.

HADIDJOJO

Depok, West Java