Jakarta, CNBC Indonesia – The Indonesian presidential general election in February 2024 is still being widely watched by the world. This time, foreign media highlighted the minimum age for presidential candidates (capres) and vice presidential candidates (cawapres).

One of them is the media Al Jazeera through articles ‘Age no barrier as Indonesia gears up for February 2024 elections’. In this article, the media highlights changes in regulations by the Indonesian Constitutional Court (MK) over the last two weeks regarding the topic of age in political positions, especially as number one and number two people in Indonesia.

“This decision paves the way for President Joko ‘Jokowi’ Widodo’s 36-year-old son, Gibran Rakabuming Raka – the current Mayor of Surakarta – to run as vice presidential candidate,” wrote the media, quoted Thursday (26/10/2023) .

As is known, the Constitutional Court has granted lawsuit number 90/PUU-XXI/2023 regarding the minimum age for presidential and vice presidential candidates in Law Number 7 of 2017 concerning Elections. In granting this, the Constitutional Court allows someone who is not yet 40 years old to run for president or vice president as long as they have experience as a regional head.

This decision takes effect from the 2024 Presidential Election. Apart from that, the MK also rejected the upper age limit for candidates above 70 years.

“The challenge was also rejected, ensuring that Prabowo Subianto, a 72-year-old presidential candidate who served two terms and served as defense minister, could campaign for the top job,” the media said.

According to the outlet, although the Constitutional Court has ruled that no man is too young or too old to run for office, the cases have highlighted a long-standing debate about age and what impact it has on a person’s political leadership capacity. A source, Simon Butt, professor of Indonesian Law at the University of Sydney’s Faculty of Law, was included in the article.

“Opposing age restrictions for elected office is a constitutional principle of democracy,” the source said Al Jazeera That.

“The idea is that as long as voters have access to complete information, so they can make informed decisions about who they will vote for, then we should leave those decisions up to the voters, regardless of age,” he added.

“However, there is already a requirement that candidates must be healthy and fit to run for or hold office. I think that goes a long way towards overcoming any argument that a candidate is too old. If he is mentally and physically fit, why not?” he wrote.

Same Part of the World?

However, the media also emphasized that Bahia is not the only age in Indonesia where political candidates are the subject of legal and public discussion. This also happens in the United States (US).

“Current President Joe Biden was the nation’s oldest person to become president when he won election at age 77 in 2020,” he wrote.

“Biden’s advanced age – he will run again in 2024 – has been used to question his policy choices, ability to govern amid claims of physical and cognitive decline by his opponents,” it added Al Jazeera.

Biden’s rival, former President Donald Trump, is also no longer young. He is now 77 years old.

“In Southeast Asia, some leaders also gravitate towards older demographic groups,” said the Qatar-based website.

“Anwar Ibrahim, Malaysia’s PM, is 76 years old. Mahathir Mohamad, who was the country’s prime minister from 1981 to 2003, became the world’s oldest leader in 2018 when he was inaugurated at the age of 92,” explained the media.

[Gambas:Video CNBC]

(sef/sef)