Emergency Warning #KawalPutusanMK
On August 22nd, hashtag #KawalPutusanMK went trending along with a bold blue picture with a white image of Indonesia’s ideology symbol, Garuda Pancasila, with the caption “Peringatan Darurat” or “Emergency Warning” So, what actually happened that time?
First of all, let’s roll back and see the series of events that lead to this movement. On 20th August 2024, The Constitutional Court (Mahkamah Konstitusi) decided to change the nomination threshold requirements for the regional head candidate. Political Parties need at least 20 percent of the seats in the regional house of representatives (DPRD) or 25 percent of valid votes to nominate their candidates as the regional head. But now the involved Political Parties only need 7.5 percent of valid votes to nominate the candidates. This change obviously gave parties without regional House of Representatives seats to nominate their candidates independently. Not only the seat requirements are reduced, but they also decided that candidates for head provinces positions must be at least 30 years old when designated as official candidates by the General Election Commission (Komisi Pemilihan Umum), not when they are inaugurated.
Second, on the following day dated 21st of August, The People’s Representative Council (DPR) decided to revert the current rule to the old one except for the requirement for the candidate’s age. They intend to take the rule that the candidate age must be at least 30 years old when designated as an official candidate of the General Election Commission to the candidate age must be 30 years old at the time of inauguration.
These two facts written before are the key points for the next few events. The first fact is the decision to reduce the seat requirement is beneficial for one of the famous candidates, Anies Baswedan. Anies is loved by a few groups among the masses due to his brilliant and bright past achievements and ideas, yet he isn’t actually affiliated with any political party. The new rule allows him to step up as a candidate if only he secures even just one endorsement from a Political Party which is rumored by PDIP (Partai Demokrasi Indonesia Perjuangan), who has yet to announce their candidate for the race as they have a hard time to form a coalition. It needs to be understood that the new rules by the Constitutional Court were not made because they support solely Anies Baswedan or PDIP, but it is intended to create an opportunity for another opposition to face the other dominant coalition that seems to run unopposed.
Moving on to the next fact, the plan of the People’s Representative Council to change the age requirement is very significant. Many people believe that this plan is intended to build a road for one of the rumored candidates who will run in the race, Kaesang Pangarep, the current President’s second son. The decision to change the age requirement to be based on the time of the inauguration, Kaesang, who will turn 30 on December 25th, will be eligible to run for the race.
The People’s Representative Council’s meeting to revise the law regarding the two requirements above angered the people because it was a blatant way to show allegedly nepotistic and collusive behavior from the coalition. Not only that, it demonstrated the council’s lack of professionalism in lawmaking. According to Titi Anggraini, a lecturer in election law at the University of Indonesia’s Faculty of Law, the recent ruling is similar to the controversial ruling that altered the age requirement for the presidential candidacy, which seemingly aims to allow Gibran Rakabuming, who is the current President’s first son, to run as the Vice President of Indonesia despite not fulfilling the initial age requirement. Ironically no one from the government ever tried to intervene and it took effect almost immediately despite getting a strong backlash from the people of Indonesia.
On August 22nd, a large number of young adults in nearly every region of Indonesia conducted peaceful demonstrations to express their disapproval and disagreement with this urgent matter. The people were tired of the blatant unfairness of their own government and even their representatives. Not only did the youth participate, but local citizens supported the youth who voiced their opinions in their own way. People who were unable to join the demonstrations helped the movement by making the news viral, informing fellow Indonesians that are still clueless, and expressing their disapproval through posts, art, news, and pictures, across the internet. From celebrities and comedians to random users on the internet, all united together to voice the unfairness and demand for justice. At that moment, it showed the strong bonds between individuals in Indonesia and how, despite their love for their country, they feel powerless under the government’s control. In between struggles to face the government just to voice their opinion to the government, there have also been heartwarming moments that reflect the Indonesian people’s character. Until now, people are still alert to any updates regarding this urgent matter, few said they’ll keep watching until the regional elections are completed with fairness and without any deceitful practices intended to benefit a single candidate.
Writer : Kinaya (Research and Development Department)
