TEMPO.CO, Medan - Constitutional Law Expert, Yusril Ihza Mahendra said Basuki Tjahaja Purnama alias Ahok is impossible to be nominated as a presidential candidate of Indonesia.

"Ahok certainly is impossible to," Yusril said about the terms of to be the Indonesian presidential candidate during the 2018 Islamic Congress in Medan, North Sumatra, Friday, March 30.

Ahok cannot be a president because of his citizenship status at birth. "Ahok was not born as an Indonesian citizen, it can be checked in the civil records," he said.

Yusril claimed to know Ahok because they came from one region. Ahok's parents, Tjoeng Kiem Nam, chose to be the Chinese citizen during the period of citizens' determination status in 1962. Automatically, Ahok who was born in 1966, was also a Chinese citizen.

It is not in accordance with the 1945 Constitution amended in 2003. Article 6 (1) of the 1945 Constitution states that the Presidential and Vice Presidential candidates must be the Indonesian Citizens since birth and never accepted other citizenship because of their own will.

Yusril Ihza said that Ahok, the former Jakarta Governor, decided to be an Indonesian citizen around 1986. Thus, Ahok does not qualify as an Indonesian presidential candidate as it is stated in the 1945 Constitution. ”Ahok cannot, but others can," he said.

LIL ASKAR MONZA