TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - President Joko Widodo or Jokowi continues working at the Presidential Palace today in Jakarta, Thursday, August 22, 2024, amid public demonstrations that erupt against the House of Representatives or DPR's plan to revise the Regional Election Law.

Today, Jokowi met with the Nahdlatul Ulama Executive Board, or PBNU to discuss the religious organization’s mining concession. PBNU General Chair Yahya Cholil Staquf or Gus Yahya said after the meeting that PBNU is ready to work on its designated mining location. PBNU is granted 26 hectares of mine formerly owned by PT Kaltim Prima Coal (KPC) mining project.

“Hopefully, we can start working at the mining location starting January (2025),” said Gus Yahya.

Gus Yahya also said that PBNU intends to invest in Nusantara Capital City or IKN. “We intend to purchase land in IKN, hopefully up to 100 hectares,” he said.

Before meeting PBNU, Jokowi summoned the Acting Governor of Central Java Nana Sudjana this morning. However, The former Governor of Jakarta canceled attending an event organized by the Financial Services Authority or OJK and the National Council for Inclusive Finance in the afternoon.

In another part of Jakarta, thousands of workers and students stormed DPR building in Senayan, Central Jakarta to protest DPR’s attempt to overturn the Constitutional Court or MK’s ruling on Regional Head Election Law. The Presidential Palace is only 10 kilometers away from the center of protest in Senayan.

MK decided on Tuesday to lower the threshold for candidate nomination in the upcoming regional head election. Additionally, the court also reaffirmed the 30-year-old age limit for gubernatorial elections to be enforced during the time of candidate registration.

DPR, while ignoring the MK’s ruling, planned to hold a plenary meeting to ratify the Regional Election Bill. However, only a handful of DPR members attended the meeting. Deputy House Speaker, Sufmi Dasco Ahmad, who led the plenary meeting, postponed the meeting after failing to meet the meeting quorum.

Dasco said the regional head election will follow the MK ruling if the Regional Head Election Bill is not ratified by the end of August. "If there’s no new regulation by the start of the registration period, we will follow the Constitutional Court Decision,” he said on Thursday.

President Jokowi’s government also claimed that it would follow the applicable rules regarding the current process of Regional Head Election revision. The Head of the Presidential Communications Office Hasan Nasbi said on Thursday that the government will follow current existing rules as long as no new law is promulgated.

DANIEL A. FAJRI

Editor’s Choice: Police Deploy Tear Gas at Election Law Protest in Semarang

Click here to get the latest news updates from Tempo on Google News