JAKARTA: Indonesian lawmakers canceled plans to ratify controversial revisions to the country's election laws, the deputy speaker of Parliament said, after thousands of protesters rallied in front of the parliament building.
If implemented, the changes could have further enhanced the political influence of outgoing President Joko Widodo.
Parliament met in an emergency session Thursday to overturn one decision made by Indonesia's Constitutional Court on election procedures, while amending another. But the legislature canceled the ratification after failing to achieve a quorum amid the protests outside.
“It was stated that the revision of the regional election law cannot be implemented. This means that today the revision of the regional election law will not be implemented,” Deputy Speaker Sufmi Dasco Ahmad told reporters in Jakarta.
Indonesian police fired tear gas and water cannon to disperse thousands of protesters who attempted to storm the parliament building after they tore down a section of fence and threw rocks at police. Protesters occupied roads in front of the building. Some held banners and signs, while others started a fire and burned tires.
The Constitutional Court on Tuesday dismissed a challenge to an age limit that prevents people under 30 from running for regional governorships, which would prevent Widodo's youngest son, Kaesang Pangarep, 29, from running in a regional contest in Central Java.
The court also made it easier for political parties to nominate candidates by cutting back a requirement that they hold 20% of a local legislature.
Parliament on Wednesday passed an emergency motion to change the minimum age to serve as governor to 30 at the time of inauguration and further ease nomination requirements, and had planned to ratify the change in a plenary session on Thursday.
The moves triggered widespread condemnation on social media and raised concerns about a potential constitutional crisis. The legislature was forced to cancel passing the law after failing to achieve a quorum.
Widodo, popularly known by his nickname Jokowi, began his second and final five-year term in October 2019 and is not eligible to run again. He leaves office in October.
Widodo's eldest son, Gibran Rakabuming Raka, is the incoming vice president after the same court created an exception to the age limit for the post for former regional leaders. The decision was made while Widodo's brother-in-law, Anwar Usman, was serving as chief justice. Usman was criticized for participating in a case involving a close relative and later dismissed.
Activists, students, workers and Indonesian celebrities and musicians joined the protest Thursday, voicing concerns about democracy in Indonesia.
Protests were also reported in other big cities, including Bandung, Yogyakarta, Surabaya and Makassar.
In Yogyakarta, at least 1,000 protesters rallied in front of Yogyakarta’s parliament building, the state palace and the city's ceremonial center. Their demands included voting down the regional election bill, respecting the Constitutional Court's ruling and rejecting political dynasties.
The simultaneous protests in major cities showed anger at parliament’s efforts to overrule the Constitutional Court decision to allow more candidates to compete in the regional elections, said Yoes Kenawas, a political analyst at Atma Jaya Catholic University.
"They also opposed the dynastic politics carried out by President Jokowi,” Kenawas said.
Indonesia cancels ratification of controversial election law changes as thousands protest
https://arab.news/99885
Indonesia cancels ratification of controversial election law changes as thousands protest
- Power struggle between the parliament and the judiciary comes amid a week of dramatic political developments in the world’s third-largest democracy
Agonizing wait as Switzerland works to identify New Year’s fire victims
- Authorities begin moving bodies from burned-out bar in luxury ski resor Crans-Montana
- At least 40 people were killed in one of Switzerland's worst tragedies
CRANS-MONTANA, Switzerland: Families endured an agonizing wait for news of their loved ones Friday as Swiss investigators rushed to identify victims of a ski resort fire at a New Year’s celebration that killed at least 40 people.
Authorities began moving bodies from the burned-out bar in the luxury ski resort town Crans-Montana late Friday morning, with the first silver-colored hearse rolling into the funeral center in nearby Sion shortly after 11:00 am (1000 GMT), AFP journalists saw.
Around 115 people were also injured in the fire, many of them critical condition.
As the scope of the tragedy — one of Switzerland’s worst — began to sink in, Crans-Montana appeared enveloped in a stunned silence.
“The atmosphere is heavy,” Dejan Bajic, a 56-year-old tourist from Geneva who has been coming to the resort since 1974, told AFP.
“It’s like a small village; everyone knows someone who knows someone who’s been affected,” he said.
It is not yet clear what set off the blaze at Le Constellation, a bar popular with young tourists, at around 1:30 am (0030 GMT) Thursday.
Bystanders described scenes of panic and chaos as people tried to break the windows to escape and others, covered in burns, poured into the street.
‘Screaming in pain’
Edmond Cocquyt, a Belgian tourist, told AFP he had seen “bodies lying here, ... covered with a white sheet,” and “young people, totally burned, who were still alive... Screaming in pain.”
The exact death toll was still being established.
And it could rise, with canton president Mathias Reynard telling the regional newspaper Wallizer Bote that at least 80 of the 115 injured were in critical condition.
Swiss authorities warned it could take days to identify everyone who perished, an agonizing wait for family and friends.
Condolences poured in from around the world, including from Pope Leo XIV, who offered “compassion and solidarity” to victims’ families.
Online, desperate appeals abound to find the missing.
“We’ve tried to reach our friends. We took loads of photos and posted them on Instagram, Facebook, all possible social networks to try to find them,” said Eleonore, 17. “But there’s nothing. No response.”
‘The apocalypse’
The exact number of people who were at the bar when it went up in flames remains unclear.
Le Constellation had a capacity of 300 people, plus another 40 people on its terrace, according to the Crans-Montana website.
Swiss President Guy Parmelin, who took office on Thursday, called the fire “a calamity of unprecedented, terrifying proportions” and announced that flags would be flown at half-mast for five days.
“We thought it was just a small fire — but when we got there, it was war,” Mathys, from the neighboring village of Chermignon-d’en-Bas, told AFP. “That’s the only word I can use to describe it: the apocalypse.”
Authorities have declined to speculate on what caused the tragedy, saying only that it was not an attack.
Several witness accounts, broadcast by various media, pointed to sparklers mounted on champagne bottles and held aloft by restaurant staff as part of a regular “show” for patrons.
‘Dramatic’
Pictures and videos shared on social media also showed sparklers on champagne bottles held into the air, as an orange glow began spreading across the ceiling.
One video showed the flames advancing quickly as revellers initially continued to dance.
One young man playfully attempted to extinguish the flames with a large white cloth, but the scene became panic-stricken as people scrambled and screamed in the dark against a backdrop of smoke and flames.
The canton’s chief prosecutor, Beatrice Pilloud, said investigators would examine whether the bar met safety standards.
Red and white caution tape, flowers and candles adorned the street outside, while police shielded the site with white screens.
Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani, who said 13 Italians had been injured in the fire, and six remained missing, was among those to lay flowers at the site.
The French foreign ministry said nine French citizens figured among the injured, and eight others remained unaccounted for.
After emergency units at local hospitals filled, many of the injured were transported across Switzerland and beyond.
Patients are being treated in Italy, France and Germany, and Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said his country was ready to provide “specialized medical care to 14 injured.”
Multiple sources told AFP the bar owners were French nationals: a couple originally from Corsica who, according to a relative, are safe, but have been unreachable since the tragedy.
