Thursday, August 19, 2010

Third Term for President SBY?

One of the hottest news lately is about the possibility of President Susilo Bambang Yudoyono (SBY) to run as a candidate in the next presidential election in 2014.

This is impossible, because according to the amended Constitution a president can only hold two office terms, and currently SBY is on his second office term.

This shocking idea was brought by the PR of SBY's Democrat Party i.e. Lawyer Ruhut Sitompul who said that SBY is the only suitable person for the post. For which purpose he proposed an amendment of said constitution clause to allow a president hold more than two office terms.

Amendment of the Constitution is not an easy thing to do and should through several steps. First, a proposal for amendment should be approved by at least 1/3 votes of the joint meeting of House of Representatives and the Regional Representatives Council. Second, the joint meeting must be attended by at least 2/3 of the members. Third, 51% of the members must be give their approval.

Considering that the Democrat Party only have 25% seats in the House of Parliament, they have to obtain approval from the other members of the coalition, which means that they have to give much more consessions, especially to the Golkar Party as second largest party.

In my humble opinion, amendment of the Constitution would take a whole lots of time, energy and cause political tensions. Therefore it would be much better if the Constitution is not disturbed and let new leaders become president in 2014.  



For details on the above, please read the following articles :
Undang-undang Dasar 1945 (Indonesian Constitution)
SBY and a Third Term as President?
Extending Presidential Term Betrays Indonesia's Reform

19 comments:

Simon said...

Very well said.

I'd be very disappointed if he got in for a third term, but I concede a new president could be a risk.

We could get better, but we could also get worse depending on the level of candidates.

juno said...

nice post..very interesting

TUKANG CoLoNG said...

komen saya bisa dilihat di postingan blog saya hari ini..kebetulan topik kita sama..:)

Unknown said...

@Simon,
We are facing a dilemma like you said.
Although Ruhut may have been right that SBY is suitable for this moment, but a third term would be too risky :
1) 6 years in powers shown that he love to complain/whine, not firm, indecisive; ignoring gas explosions
and lapindo
2) Negotiations for amendment of the constitution would not be smooth especially with Golkar who ought to have its own agenda for 2014.

@Juno,
Thank you for your kind words.

Unknown said...

TUKANG CoLoNG,
Oke nanti saya tengok.

colson said...

Some - peculiar? odd? weird? funny?- MP did fly a kite - and it was shot down at once ( among others by the president himself).

So the real question in my opinion is: why is it that Ruhut's blank started a seemingly feverish debate in the media?

Unknown said...

Hi Colson,
We are watching a political game, and what Ruhut, in charge of Communications/PR in PD, did is like fishing to find out what would the reaction be.
I hope it would be stopped otherwise might cause political socio-political tensions.

Yari NK said...

Harry, I think this issue is not that serious. Why?? Because it came out of a person called, you know, RS who is renowned for his indistinct babbles, babbles and babbles! This is not the first time he, sorry to say, disgraces himself (perhaps) unwittingly in front of TV cams.

So why do people take his remarks seriously when almost all of us know that his farts might not sound worse than his words! Sorry.

Unknown said...

Hi Yari,
Ha ha ha ........
I always admire the way you put words together. I agree with you about Ruhut. But who knows whether this time he is talking for himself or for ?????

Husnul Khotimah said...

aku, aku termasuk orang yang ga' pernah ngurusin polotik, hehe, jadi ma'af, mau Pak sby jadi president lagi atau ga, aku ga peduli, Egois ya, tapi ini benar hehe..

sekali lagi maaf, sama siapapun :P

salam kenal thanks dah mampir :)

Unknown said...

Nyun-Nyun,
Santai aja. Kita hidup di negara demokratis dan anda bebas untuk peduli politik atau tidak.
Terima kasih atas kunjungan dan komentarnya.

Unknown said...

Harry, does it matter who is the president if the rest of the government are not driving laws, statutes etc through to improve the lives of everyday people here? Surely it would be better if he was a figure head with a prime minister below who actually did something?

Unknown said...

Hi Luke,
People want a top leader who can provide their needs at affordable prices, maintain justice and decisive.
Many people have talked about a PM who do many of the prez' jobs. But PM is not recognized by our system because the constitution does not recognize it.
Actually we have PM between 1946 and 1959 based on a temporary constitution.

jb said...

Just a quick note to say thx for visiting my blog. I appreciate you taking the time to comment.

I'm not up on your politics, but it seems to me that if they make this exception and allow SBY to run for a third term, it will stir up all kinds of negativity and backlash.

Peace,
JB

Unknown said...

Hi Jb,
Yes you are right. Thank you for dropping by.

Setyo-Utomo Said said...

I fully agree with you

Unknown said...

DS Utomo,
I am glad that you shared my opinion.
Thank you.

TUKANG CoLoNG said...

tumben nih pak nizam belum update..:)

Unknown said...

TUKANG CoLoNG,
Terima kasih anda telah mengingatkan saya.