Securing Democracy: Preventing the Risk of Autocratic Constitutional Change in Indonesia
Legal Literacy - In many parts of the world, the promise of democracy born from the collapse of authoritarian regimes is now under a new, more subtle and dangerous threat. This threat no longer comes from...
Table of Contents
- Hungarian Case Study: Blueprint for Autocratic Constitutional Change
- First Step: Changing the Rules of Constitutional Change
- Second Step: Attacking and Crippling the Constitutional Court
- Third Step: Weakening Judicial Independence in General
- A Mirror for Indonesia: Three Vulnerable Points in the 1945 Constitution Amendment Mechanism
- Bloated Coalition and the Death of the Opposition
- Minimalist and Quantitative Change Procedures
- No Substance Differentiation:
- Fortifying the Constitution: Three Alternative Designs to Prevent Hijacking
- Intellectual Path: Establishment of a Constitutional Commission
- Transitional Political Contract: The Idea of an Interim Constitution
- Layered Protection: The Concept of Tiered Clauses (Tiered Constitutional Design)
- Conclusion: A Call for Constitutional Vigilance
- Source
Legal Literacy- In many parts of the world, the promise of democracy born from the collapse of authoritarian regimes is now under a new, more subtle and dangerous threat. This threat no longer comes from armed military coups, but from within the democratic system itself, through a phenomenon known asautocratic legislationorautocratic legalism". This is a silent agenda of authoritarianism carried out by populist leaders, who use their democratic mandate to manipulate and shape laws to legitimize their own power interests.
The culmination of this practice, and the most worrying, is when autocrats use the most sacred mechanism in a country—constitutional change—no longer as an instrument to strengthen the protection of human rights, but rather to hijack and destroy the joints of the rule of law. Hungary under the leadership of Viktor Orbán is the most perfect and terrible example of this autocratic constitutional change practice, a case study of how easily a democratic constitution can be stripped and transformed into an instrument of absolute power.
This Hungarian experience is not just a story from a distant land. It is a warning mirror that is very relevant to Indonesia. The discourse on the fifth amendment to the 1945 Constitution of the Republic of Indonesia (UUD 1945) that continues to roll, coupled with the existing domestic political reality, opens up a risk gap very similar to what happened in Central Europe.
This article, referring to Idul Rishan's in-depth analysis, will comprehensively dissect how autocratic constitutional changes occurred in Hungary, identify vulnerable points in the 1945 Constitution amendment mechanism that make Indonesia vulnerable, and offer three alternative procedural designs to fortify our constitution from potential hijacking by political power in the future.
Support
• Indonesian Legal Literacy
Read more comfortably, while supporting literacy.
Join Membership or submit your article for publication.
Membership
Read without ads, focus more, and access premium features.
Submit Article
Submit your writing—we curate and help publish it. If it is published, you have the opportunity to earn points/payouts according to the terms.
Related Articles
See morePopular Articles
Latest News
View all newsPublic Space
See AllPasang Iklan
Write a comment