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