Jokowi Impeachment a Near Impossible Scenario, says Legal Expert
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2 June 2020 08:42 WIB
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - In a response to the recent public discussion on the impeachment of President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo, Integrity Law Firm founder Denny Indrayana strongly argues that such a scenario is nearly impossible both from the constitutional and political aspects.
According to him, this is due to the fact that Jokowi’s administration is backed by the majority of political parties in the parliament.
Especially considering that Article 7A of the 1945 Constitution (UUD) oversees that a president’s impeachment can only be formally suggested by the People’s Consultative Assembly (MPR) to the House of Representatives (DPR) if the state leader has provenly committed treason, corruption, bribery, or severe criminal acts.
“In this part alone it’s already a tall order. The opposition parties within the DPR only consist of PKS and the Democratic Party. We can assume that any suggestion to impeach the president will be denied by the DPR. So, the president is still safe from the first legal steps of an impeachment process,” Denny Indrayana explained Monday’s virtual discussion regarding the freedom of speech and a president’s impeachment amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
During the discussion, he also noted that the next step would be to file an official impeachment to the Constitutional Court (MK) which will open three possible responses; rejection, acceptance, or to hold a hearing with members of the parliament.
“Getting to this stage would be extremely difficult as the Jokowi party coalition is almost entirely dominant. If there are no changes to the coalition, it seems that there would be little to no impeachment attempts made against the current president,” he said.
AHMAD FAIZ IBNU SANI