Understanding the President of Indonesia

In the chaos of political struggle, it is very possible for people to be poisoned by the thoughts and behavior of politicking. Not a few have failed to ask, let alone understand, what the position of Indonesian president they are currently contesting for actually is.

The following article was translated using both Microsoft Azure Open AI and Google Translation AI. The original article can be found in Memahami Presiden Indonesia

HERYUNANTO

Illustration

Serving as the president of Indonesia is considered by certain sectors of the public, particularly politicians, as the highest achievement without equal. As such, nearly all citizens and politicians feel the need to be involved in the political turbulence of presidential elections.

In the political year, the political struggle to win the post of president became people's daily menu. This political struggle will continue to repeat itself in a five-year cycle because it usually starts to heat up a year before the president's term of office ends.

In the chaos of the political struggle that is raging, it is very possible that the people will be poisoned by the thoughts and behavior ofpoliticking. Not a few have failed to ask, let alone understand, what the position of Indonesian president is, which they are fighting for with all their efforts and means. To the point that those who feel they have failed in the political struggle are willing to wail and revile.

The Indonesian people and politicians seem to have failed to understand that in advanced countries such as the United States, citizens who are already knowledgeable and mature in politics and democracy are no longer too concerned about presidential elections.

This is proven by the level of political participation of citizens in presidential elections which is quite low, difficult to exceed 60 percent of total voters.

In the chaos of the political struggle that is raging, it is very possible that the people will be poisoned by the thoughts and behavior of politicking.

US citizens have come to understand that the president is not everything. They also understand that the president is only a temporary position that will not totally and instantly change the landscape of life. Therefore, it is normal for former US presidents to live as ordinary citizens after serving, as done by Barack Obama, George Bush, or Ronald Reagan.

The ability to understand the position of the president in a thorough and comprehensive manner should be elementary knowledge for the people of Indonesia. As such, the people will not be swept up in the tumultuous and cunning political struggles, which ultimately have little benefit in improving their lives, if not only to be called a deceptive illusion.

Life on its principle must still be fought for personally and in many ways not through politics.

Presidential powers

The scope of the Indonesian president's power, according to the 1945 Constitution as the country's constitution, is to hold governing power in order to carry out the 1945 Constitution and laws. This is commonly referred to as the executive branch of government.

Under the executive power, the president also holds the authority to appoint and dismiss ministers, ambassadors, consuls, or receive the placement of friendly nations' ambassadors.

The President also holds quasi-legislative power in the process of forming laws, issuing government regulations to replace laws, government regulations, and presidential regulations. The President also holds quasi-judicial power to grant clemency, rehabilitation, amnesty, and abolition.

Checks and balances mechanism

Even though it seems that the scope of his powers is quite broad, in fact the Indonesian president is not free to carry out governmental actions as he pleases, because the president is both limited and controlled by political or legal responsibilities. The 1945 Constitution stipulates that the Indonesian president is not in the condition of "The president can do no wrong".

However, unfortunately, until now Indonesia is still reluctant to form a presidential regulation that comprehensively regulates the presidential institution, so that the president is more transparent, accountable, and responsible in exercising his powers.

In exercising his powers, the Indonesian president is monitored, even limited, by a check and balance mechanism between legislative power held by the DPR and judicial power exercised by the Supreme Court and the Constitutional Court.

Even the president is monitored by the press as the fourth pillar of political power, both mainstream media and social media. In practice, social media not only observes and criticizes, but is even more brutal, to the point of mocking and cursing the president.

The implications of supervision by checks and balances mechanisms or supervision by the press mean that the post-reform Indonesian president is no longer free to execute his powers based on personal or group perceptions (inner circle). On the other hand, the Indonesian president tends to be trapped in a chain of regulations that are sometimes too detailed and long-winded.

It is in this context that President Joko Widodo (Jokowi)'s desire to simplify regulations and breakthrough procedures emerged. Unfortunately, President Jokowi's careful idea was hijacked by his assistants with an omnibus law framework which is constitutionally wrong.

Unfortunately, President Jokowi's careful idea was hijacked by his assistants with an omnibus law framework which is constitutionally wrong.

Due to complicated and long-winded regulations, to implement strategic projects such as the construction of toll roads and ports, President Jokowi needed to issue a separate presidential regulation as an effort to short-cut (breakthrough) the delays in legal rules and bureaucratic procedures.

Apart from that, personally, the President of Indonesia no longer truly enjoys glory (dignity) because every day the president can receive insults and insults from the people.

Mirage

Ideally, the people should start realizing that the perception of the presidency as a position of absolute power, capable of instantaneously and automatically changing the quality of individual or collective lives, is nothing but an illusion.

The presidency is merely a state organ entrusted with the task of gradually and systematically improving the welfare of the public. In fact, it would be a violation of the constitution if the Indonesian president were to misuse their power with the intention of providing specific benefits or advantages to themselves or their group.

It is time for the people to treat the presidential election process as a normal constitutional mechanism without the need to create victims, damage, or hurt feelings.

Bahrul Ilmi Yakup Chairman of the Association of Constitutional Advocates-Lecturers