Indonesians Protest Parliamentary Plans for Electoral Reforms

TaiwanPlus News

Indonesians took to the streets in the thousands to protest their parliament's attempts to pass election law reforms that would bypass rulings handed down by the Constitutional Court.

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00:00Protesters scale the fences outside the Indonesian parliament, gathering the thousands angered

00:10by controversial electoral reforms being pushed by the country's legislators.

00:14This action is still like this, how we demand the leadership in the DPRK province to come

00:23to power.

00:24We have given one support, the statement that he also rejected the results of the DPRK's

00:30decision because it is no longer in the people's favor.

00:33Protests erupted across at least seven major cities, decrying the national government's

00:37attempts to bypass vital constitutional court rulings regarding this year's incoming regional

00:43elections.

00:44A few days earlier, the country's constitutional court ruled that candidates must be 30 years

00:50old at the time of filing candidacy, which would disqualify the youngest son of outgoing

00:55President Joko Widodo, Kaisang Pangarap, rumored to be gunning for a seat as governor.

01:01The court also ruled that minority parties would now only need a lower threshold of representation

01:06in regional assemblies to field candidates for the elections.

01:11The rulings were seen as popular among the public.

01:14The people are very optimistic with the constitutional court ruling right now because it will actually

01:19lead them to have more options for the regional election.

01:22Nepotism, I think, is one of the things that is being challenged here.

01:28But within just 24 hours of the ruling, the country's national parliament held an emergency

01:32meeting to pass reforms nullifying the court's rulings.

01:38This enraged many Indonesians, who saw it as a sign of tampering with the country's democracy.

01:44Online, thousands of Indonesian accounts posted the blue screen with the words,

01:48Emergency Alert, while many more took to the streets with banners condemning political

01:54dynasties and defending the constitution.

01:59Storming the parliament in a fit of rage, police responded with tear gas and water cannons

02:05to disperse protesters.

02:07For now, the government has shelved its planned electoral law reforms, which would have overridden

02:12the court's rulings.

02:14Though pleased at the development, protesters say they won't hesitate to take to the streets

02:18again to make sure the government continues to respect the country's democratic foundations.

02:24Devin Tsai and Gina Lopez for Taiwan Plus.

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