Indonesian police have used tear gas and water cannons on protesters across Jakarta as tens of thousands demonstrate against the government’s bid to annul a decision of the constitutional court.
Disturbances have ensued outside the parliament where a number of protesters were observed pulling down the gates of the compound as others chanted, ‘‘Peace.’’
Police also fought the demonstrators in other large cities, which include Padang, Bandung, and Yogyakarta.
Critics claimed that the conflict of interest of the Indonesian parliament led by the president against Indonesia’s constitutional court could lead to a political crisis.
On Wednesday, Indonesia’s Constitutional Court said that parties would not need a minimum of 20 percent of representation in the regional assembly to nominate a candidate.
However, within 24 hours of implementation, parliament sought to pass an emergency motion to repeal these changes, an action that has received a lot of criticism and has raised worry about a constitutional crisis.
A vote on the fast-track legislation that would overturn some of the ruling of the court was to be conducted on Thursday; however, there were not enough MPs to conduct the vote.
It is ostensibly designed to retain the status quo; the business as usual perpetuation, which is advantageous to the party parties of the outgoing President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo and the incoming President-elect Prabowo Subianto. Therefore, most of the local elections are believed to be what is referred to as a walkover.
The other effect of the parliament decision is that a bitter critic of the government, Anies Baswedan, will also be barred from the important position of Jakarta governor.
The Indonesian government is also still on the lookout for a way to get around the constitutional court’s ruling that upholding the existing laws for the minimum age of 30 years will disqualify Mr. Widodo’s 29-year-old son, Kaesang Pangarep, from participating in a regional electoral race in Central Java.
Mr. Widodo’s rival in the presidential election is a former army general, Mr. Prabowo Subianto, while the president’s eldest son, Gibran Rakabuming Raka, is the incoming vice president.
