In an apparent change of tone, President-elect Prabowo Subianto and his Gerindra Party are now rallying support for the Constitutional Court after the House of Representatives attempted to reverse court-ordered changes to the regional election law, sparking widespread protests.
Tens of thousands of Indonesians took to the streets last week to protest against lawmakers’ attempt to push through a controversial change to the electoral law that ignored court rulings.
The change in the law would benefit President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo and Prabowo’s Onward Indonesia Coalition (KIM) because it would allow Jokowi’s youngest son, Kaesang Pangarep, to run for office in Central Java and at the same time prevent Anies Baswedan from running against KIM-backed Ridwan Kamil in the Jakarta gubernatorial election.
Prabowo’s Gerindra was among those who endorsed the revision during a preliminary meeting last week, with the aim of signing it into law during a House plenary session on Thursday morning.
But it was also Gerindra’s managing director and deputy speaker of the House of Representatives, Sufmi Ahmad Dasco, who told the press that parliamentarians had decided on Thursday evening to drop the revision plan and abide by the court rulings following the protests.
Prabowo has since denounced politicians who, in their hunger for power, put their own interests above those of the people.
Speaking at the National Mandate Party (PAN) national congress in Jakarta on Saturday, Prabowo said politicians and political parties have demanded the mandate to power from the people and must therefore put the people above themselves.
