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Indonesian Students Stage Rally Against Rumored 3rd Presidential Term, While Civil Servants, Soldiers to Receive Double Bonuses

April 16, 2022

 

Indonesian soldiers and their families gather at Halim Perdanakusuma Airport in East Jakarta to join in a free-travel program heading to Central and East Java arranged by the Air Force, April 16, 2022	Indonesian students protesting a third presidential term, April 14, 2022

 

Students Stage Rally Against the Rumored 3rd Presidential Term

BY JAJA SUTEJA, YUSTINUS PAAT, LENNY TRISTIA TAMBUN

Jakarta Globe, APRIL 11, 2022

Jakarta. Students took to the streets in several cities across the country on Monday to protest the rumored presidential term extension, despite earlier assurance from two-term President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo that he had no intention to seek reelection.

In Jakarta, the rally was originally planned to take place in front of the State Palace. The Indonesian Student Executive Board Alliance (BEM SI), however, decided to take the Monday protest to the House of Representatives.

A similar protest was held near regional legislative council buildings in cities in East Java, West Nusa Tenggara, and South Sumatra, among other places.

The central theme is to oppose a new amendment extending the number of presidential terms to more than two or any plan to postpone the 2024 election that will allow Jokowi to stay in office after his expired terms.

“We urge and call the people’s representatives to not betray the constitution by making amendments and firmly reject the postponement of the 2024 election or third term,” BEM SI wrote as one of its Monday rally demands on their Instagram account.

The young protesters urged the people's representatives to inform the president of their earlier demands, which the students said still remain unanswered to this day. The demands were an accumulation of the concerns that the students had voiced in the March 28 rally, as well as last year's Job Creation Law protest.

On March 28, the students protested against the election delay at the Arjuna Wijaya chariot statue in Central Jakarta. They also called for Jokowi to review the state capital law, stabilize the skyrocketing price of basic necessities, and launch an investigation against the so-called “cooking oil mafias”.

Jokowi recently reiterated that the election would take place as scheduled — shutting down rumors of a potential third term.

"I think it is already crystal clear. Everyone knows that the election will be held on February 14, 2024. We need to make this clear so there will not be any speculation that the government is trying to postpone the election, [and also to avoid] speculation of a third presidential term,” Jokowi said at a cabinet meeting on Sunday.

The ruling Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) also said last month they wouldn’t support any attempt to amend the 1945 Constitution, which limits the number of presidential terms to two.

Students Stage Rally against 3rd Presidential Term Which Doesn’t Exist (jakartaglobe.id) 

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Civil Servants, Soldiers to Receive Double Bonuses This Year

BY :FAISAL MALIKI BASKORO

APRIL 16, 2022

Jakarta. Indonesian civil servants, policemen, and soldiers will soon receive bonuses equivalent to their one-month salary plus some benefits before the end of the Islamic fasting month of Ramadan, Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati announced on Saturday.

Another annual bonus known as “the 13th salary” will be disbursed in July, she said.

“This year’s bonus will be bigger because we add 50 percent of performance allowance to it,” Sri Mulyani said in a virtual conference in Jakarta.

All retired servants, policemen, and soldiers are also entitled to double bonuses although without some benefits.

Employers in the formal sector are obliged to provide religious holiday allowance for their workers. Since the vast majority of the population are Muslims, most Indonesian permanent workers receive their allowance just before the end of Ramadan, which falls on May 3 this year.

There are currently 1.8 million civil servants at the central government level and 3.7 million others at the regional level, in addition to 3.3 million retired civil servants. The country also has around 400,000 active military members and 470,000 active policemen.

The central government has allocated Rp 33.3 trillion for the religious holiday bonus, whose amount could vary because regional governments may increase the figures depending on the provincial and district budgets.

The annual bonus is typically paid in July when the new academic year begins to help state employees cope with the extra spending on child education.

Earlier on Friday, President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo said he had signed a decree on the double bonuses “in appreciation to the dedication by central and regional government officials in dealing with the Covid-19 pandemic”.

He also said the bonuses are meant to boost people’s purchase of power and speed up the national economic recovery.

Civil Servants, Soldiers to Receive Double Bonuses This Year (jakartaglobe.id)

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