State and Ambivalence of Presidential Powers

This study discusses the political process relating to the issue of presidential prerogative control with an emphasis on the views and interests of the actors involved in discussing the issue. This study explains two main questions: (1) How is the actualization of the president's prerogative power in Indonesia's presidential system after the constitutional amendment? (2) What is behind the ambivalence of the president's prerogative power formulation in Indonesia's presidential system after the constitutional amendment? The results of this study found that constitutional amendments related to the president's prerogatives revealed an ambivalence that distorted the meaning of the prerogative itself and was not strict between limiting or actually expanding the president's power. This happens because of the tug-of-war between legislative and executive interests. Behind the issue of controlling the president's prerogative powers, there is the interest of legislative institutions to equalize power with the president. Instead, the executive seeks to maintain or extend the president's prerogative power.