By: Elan Rahmawati ) *
People power can be interpreted as an effort to move the masses in large numbers to demand an outcome like what happened at the end of the New Order era which was marked by massive demonstrations with the demands of President Soeharto to resign from his position as President of the Republic of Indonesia in 1998.
However, the current echo of people power has resurfaced, even Amien Rais, the former chairman of the People’s Consultative Assembly, who is currently the BPN Board of Trustees, also participated in the people power movement because of alleged fraud in the General Election.
Even though people have space to replace power through elections every 5 years. Therefore, actions that want a change of power by inhibiting the electoral process are unconstitutional.
This received a response from the Chairperson of the Central Executive
Muhammadiyah Haedar Nashir invites the public to be willing to win and lose in the 2019 General Election so that there is no need to delegate the 2019 Election to the people power movement initiated by Amien Rais.
“In order to wisely prioritize statesmanship. Both those who succeeded in the Pileg, the Presidential Election, in order to make the mandate humbly did not need to be arrogant. For those who have lost, they have not received a mandate, please accept it gracefully, “Haedar said at a press conference at
Dakwah Muhammadiyah Building, Jakarta.
On the phenomenon of people power responding to the results of the 2019 Election, Haedar said that it should be undermined because there was a pattern of investigating Election fraud through official and elegant channels.
“If there are problems that concern the election dispute, complete through the procedure, through the Constitutional Court and the process guaranteed by the applicable regulations,” he said.
The Muhammadiyah PP Chairperson also believes in the credibility of state institutions that address election disputes. For those who win, to be grateful because it is a heavy burden.
Meanwhile, anyone as a believer, strives with patience, gratitude and a good attitude in facing all election results.
“There is no need for mass mobilization. All God willing know the mechanism of such elections. “I believe that all will get good results, smart and spirit of statesmanship,” Haedar said.
In the 1945 Constitution and Law number 07 of 2017 concerning elections, it has regulated the mechanism for resolving disputes / violations of elections through legal mechanisms. Therefore, there must be no other mechanism outside the law in dealing with a democratic process for the 2019 general election.
However, if people power is carried out in order to ignore the legal stages of the election, it leads to actions that are unconstitutional and injure the principle of popular sovereignty itself. If this is allowed, it will certainly worsen the political atmosphere in Indonesia.
The act of people power itself only shows an attitude of immaturity in politics, it can also be subject to legal sanctions with all existing legal instruments. From the Criminal Code to the ITE Law.
Yenti Garnasih as Chair of the Criminal Law and Criminology Society said that incitement, actions, actions of people power with the intention of mobilizing the masses to overthrow the legitimate government is unconstitutional, which can be subject to legal sanctions.
In the Criminal Code there are laws that can be used in cracking down on incitement / acts of people power acts, including the article of incitement to humiliation and the Acts of Election Law and the ITE Law.
According to experts, the crime of treason is not necessary until after the offense is the overthrow of a legitimate government. However, treason experiments such as incitement can already be subject to treason articles.
Ferry legal observer Amsari said that the people power movement could not solve the problem of electoral disputes in Indonesia, although election violations would definitely occur.
“I remind you that you want to choose the Constitutional Court’s path, prepared the evidence carefully. In my opinion, my suggestion to those who suggest people power is that it is better for this party to concentrate on going to the Constitutional Court if there are indications of fraud, “Feri said.
This indicates that in addition to people power adding to the noise, the movement is also futile, because if an election dispute is not submitted to the Constitutional Court, within the legal framework of elections, it means that all parties accept all decisions determined by the KPU.
) * The author is a sociopolitical observer