Latest news with #PancasilaDay
The Star
22-06-2025
- Politics
- The Star
House yet to decide on Gibran impeachment petition
Vice President Gibran Rakabuming Raka (centre) attends the commemoration of Pancasila Day on June 1 at the Pancasila Building, a historic hall within the Foreign Ministry's compound in Jakarta. Pancasila Day celebrates Indonesia's national ideology based on five principles: Belief in one God, just and civilized humanity, national unity, democracy guided by the wisdom of people's representatives and social justice for all Indonesians. - Photo: AFP JAKARTA: The House of Representatives is still weighing whether to bring a petition to initiate impeachment proceedings against Vice President Gibran Rakabuming Raka filed by a group of retired Indonesian Military (TNI) generals to a plenary session that would mark the start of the legal process. The decision whether to bring the petition to a plenary session depends on the petition's substance, which will first be reviewed to see whether the aspiration is 'reasonable, rational and has political and legal legitimacy,' according to House Legislation Body (Baleg) deputy chair Ahmad Iman Sukri. 'We leave it to the House leadership. The debate is more political in nature, and political products always have political solutions,' the National Awakening Party (PKB) politician said on Friday (June 20), as quoted by adding that he had not read the retired general's letter. Ahmad made the statement as the House is expected to hold a plenary session on Tuesday to mark the start of its next sitting period. The legislature is currently in recess that will end on Monday. Earlier this month, a group known as the Retired TNI Soldiers Forum sent a letter to call on the leadership of the House and the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) to begin the legal process of removing Gibran from office. The group argued that Gibran's appointment was tainted by an ethics scandal over a Constitutional Court ruling that lowered the age threshold for candidates. The controversial decision, issued during the administration of Gibran's father, former president Joko 'Jokowi' Widodo, was authored by then-chief justice Anwar Usman, Jokowi's brother-in-law. The justice was later dismissed from the court's top seat for a serious violation of judicial ethics. The group also questioned Gibran's capability to serve as vice president, arguing that the former mayor of Surakarta in Central Java has become a burden to President Prabowo Subianto in carrying out the responsibilities of the state, rather than showing his capacity to assist the President. The forum's secretary Bimo Satrio confirmed the authenticity of the letter and said that former vice president and military general Try Sutrisno had 'given his blessing' for the group to proceed with the petition in late May, despite not having his name appear among the signatories. Several days after the legislative bodies received the retired generals' letter, House Deputy Speaker and Prabowo's Gerindra Party executive Sufmi Dasco Ahmad met with Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) chair Megawati Soekarnoputri in the latter's private residence. Speaking after the meeting, Dasco, who is widely regarded as one of Prabowo's right-hand men, said that he had been sent by the President to deliver a confidential message to Megawati, and he had received a response to relay back to Prabowo in return. With the party's congress that was expected to be the occasion when it would define its political position toward Prabowo's administration, the PDI-P remains as the only de facto opposition party in the legislature, controlling 110 of 580 House seats. - The Jakarta Post/ANN
The Star
12-06-2025
- Politics
- The Star
No cabinet shake-up for now, says Prabowo's aide
President Prabowo Subianto (centre) and Vice President Gibran Rakabuming Raka (third right) greeting Cabinet ministers on Dec 2, 2024, before a plenary cabinet meeting at the Presidential Palace in Jakarta. - Antara/ JAKARTA: President Prabowo Subianto has no plans to reshuffle his cabinet for now, a senior official said, despite growing speculation over a possible expansion of the ruling coalition following his increasingly cordial ties with Megawati Soekarnoputri, leader of the de facto opposition Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P). State Secretary Prasetyo Hadi made clear that a cabinet reshuffle was not on the government's current agenda, stressing that the Prabowo administration was focusing on tackling urgent cross-sectoral challenges. 'There are still a lot of unresolved matters that demand our attention. We're prioritizing problem-solving over discussing cabinet reshuffles,' Prasetyo, who is also a senior politician of Prabowo's Gerindra Party, told reporters on Tuesday. Talks of a potential reshuffle resurfaced after top officials from Gerindra, including Prasetyo and Deputy House Speaker Sufmi Dasco Ahmad, had a closed-door meeting with PDI-P matriarch Megawati at her private residence in Teuku Umar, Central Jakarta. The meeting followed a warm encounter between President Prabowo and Megawati during the ceremony commemorating Pancasila Day early last week at the Foreign Ministry's Pancasila building, where the two exchanged jokes and pleasantries. This also prompted speculation of possible PDI-P's entry to the government, which Dasco has denied. PDI-P, the only party in the legislature that is not in Prabowo's coalition, has long been expected to take an opposition role after a public feud with former president Joko 'Jokowi' Widodo, father of Vice President Gibran Rakabuming Raka and a one-time party member who broke ranks to back Prabowo's 2024 presidential bid. Analyst Adi Prayitno of Syarif Hidayatullah State Islamic University (UIN) said there was no pressing reason for Prabowo to bring in PDI-P into his cabinet, given that the ruling coalition backing his presidency remained solid. He contrasted the current situation with those of past administrations, saying that former president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono brought in new allies and former rivals to the governing coalition as some pro-government parties began resisting or criticising his policies. 'Unless internal fractures appear, Prabowo has no urgency to expand the ruling coalition at the moment,' Adi said, noting that bringing in PDI-P when the coalition was stable would be unnecessary and even counterproductive. Adi, however, urged Prabowo not to hesitate to reshuffle his cabinet to replace underperforming ministers, stressing that a president holds the prerogative to make such changes without concern for political pushback. 'Seven months is a reasonable timeframe to measure performance and decide whether cabinet members are meeting expectations,' Adi said, noting stagnation in key sectors, such as poverty reduction, job creation and layoffs. 'A president should never be afraid that a reshuffle will trigger political instability,' Adi said. 'There are still plenty of qualified alternatives [to current ministers] available.' Addressing cabinet reshuffle rumours in late May, Gerindra secretary-general Ahmad Muzani said that while there had been no official word from the President, ministers must show greater energy and cohesion in pushing forward the government's agenda. 'We expect ministers to work more actively and follow the President's pace and direction,' Muzani said at the time. - The Jakarta Post/ANN
The Star
05-06-2025
- Politics
- The Star
Pressure mounts on Indonesian Vice President Gibran as impeachment process continues
JAKARTA: Vice President Gibran Rakabuming Raka is facing intensifying pressure as a group of retired military generals has formally petitioned the nation's legislative bodies to begin impeachment proceedings against him, just as President Prabowo Subianto appears to be consolidating support from key figures once aligned with his political rivals. In a letter obtained by The Jakarta Post on Wednesday (June 4), the group, known as Forum Purnawirawan Prajurit TNI (the Retired TNI Soldiers Forum), called on the leadership of the House of Representatives and the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) to begin the legal process of removing Gibran from office, citing alleged constitutional violations, ethical breaches and concerns over his qualifications and performance. 'We, the Forum Purnawirawan Prajurit TNI, extend our full support to President Prabowo Subianto,' the letter states. '[However], we urge the House and MPR to immediately process the impeachment of the Vice President based on the applicable law.' The group claims that Gibran's path to the vice presidency was marred by an ethics scandal involving a Constitutional Court ruling that lowered the age threshold for candidates. The controversial decision, issued during the administration of Gibran's father, former president Joko 'Jokowi' Widodo, was authored by then-chief justice Anwar Usman, Jokowi's brother-in-law, who was later dismissed for a serious violation of judicial ethics. They further questioned Gibran's competence, arguing that his two-year tenure as mayor of Surakarta does not meet the demands of the vice presidency. The letter also resurfaced controversy over a pseudonymous online account, 'fufufafa,' allegedly linked to Gibran, which was used to post derogatory and slanderous content. 'In his six months as vice president, Gibran has shown no capacity to assist the President. Instead, he has become a burden to Prabowo in carrying out the responsibilities of the state,' the letter reads. 'For a country as large and complex [as Indonesia], it would be deeply naive to have a vice president who is unfit and unqualified to lead.' The group's secretary, Bimo Satrio, confirmed the authenticity of the letter to The Jakarta Post, explaining that although it was dated May 26, the letter was not submitted until Monday upon securing a crucial meeting with former vice president Try Sutrisno, a highly respected figure among military retirees. While Try's name does not appear among the signatories, Bimo claimed that he 'gave his blessing' for the group to proceed with the petition in a meeting on May 30. The letter was submitted on the same day Gibran appeared at a Pancasila Day event alongside Prabowo, Try and Megawati Soekarnoputri, chairwoman of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) and a former political patron of Gibran and Jokowi. Political analyst Dedi Kurnia Syah described the moment as symbolically significant, interpreting it as a deliberate show of strength by Prabowo against the enduring influence of Jokowi. 'The joint appearance of Megawati, Try Sutrisno and Prabowo can be interpreted as Prabowo asserting his political strength over Gibran, and, by extension, Jokowi, especially since both Megawati and Try Sutrisno are currently aligned against the Jokowi family,' he told the Post on Wednesday. While Dedi acknowledged that public calls for Gibran's impeachment are constitutionally valid expressions of civic discontent, he emphasised that removing a sitting leader remains procedurally difficult. 'Despite the symbolic unity of Prabowo, Megawati and Try Sutrisno in one forum, such calls for impeachment remain difficult to implement under the constitutional framework,' he said, noting that the impeachment process requires a clear legal foundation, and is not easily driven by political momentum alone. Still, Dedi noted that Prabowo has not explicitly defended Gibran or dismissed the impeachment demands. Instead, the President delegated Special Presidential Advisor on Political and Security Affairs Wiranto to issue a carefully worded response—an indication, Dedi argued, that Prabowo is treating the petition seriously. While most members of the ruling coalition have remained cautious or silent on their official stance, Golkar—the largest party in the House after the PDI-P and the party speculated to be Jokowi or Gibran's new political vehicle—has publicly come to the defence of the Vice President. "Vice President Gibran was elected through a presidential election and ratified by the Constitutional Court. He has also not committed any violations that could be the basis for impeachment,' said Sarmuji, who chairs the House faction representing Golkar. - The Jakarta Post/ANN
