Jakarta: The discourse on the fifth amendment to the 1945 Constitution by the People’s Consultative Assembly (MPR) has sparked polemics in the community. Executive Director of the Association for Elections and Democracy (Perludem) Khoirunnisa Agustyati assessed that if the amendment is in the context of improving democracy, the process should also be the same, not the other way around.
“Right now, the public or society is not invited to think together. Not invited to talk or campuses or for example legal experts, political experts, who are invited are chosen, which ones are roughly in accordance with their opinions,” said Khoirunnisa on Metro TV, Friday, June 7, 2024.
Khoirunnisa said, if the goal is to improve democracy but the process does not go through democratic stages, the goal is not even achieved. He said, the solution to bad democracy should not necessarily be to change the Constitution.
“We need to reflect, not the solution is to change the constitution. We first look at the indicators of democracy which are now problematic anywhere and what needs to be highlighted is this process, it must be participatory too,” said Khoirunnisa.
Regarding who benefits and loses, according to Khoirunnisa, there must have been careful calculations by certain figures regarding this discourse. In fact, the calculation can be up to the 2029 Election.
“Well, now I think this discourse has also been calculated, and I think maybe the calculation is also long-term to the 2029 Election, which will be able to benefit which can harm,” she added.
This article has been published on Medcom.id with the title “Perludem: Efforts to Amend the 1945 Constitution Are Undemocratic”, https://www.medcom.id/nasional/politik/zNPX78gN-perludem-upaya-amendemen-uud-1945-dilakukan-dengan-cara-tidak-demoktratis