Jakarta. President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo maintained that he has no opinion on a landmark ruling by the Constitutional Court on Monday that allows elected public officials, such as his son, to contest the 2024 presidential election despite not having reached the age of 40.

Jokowi, who is on an official trip to Beijing, spoke on a video message later in the evening that as a president he must defend the impartiality of the justice system.

“Regarding the ruling by the Constitutional Court, you can ask directly to the court or legal experts. I don’t want to give my opinion on the ruling because it can be misinterpreted as if I interfered in the judicial branch,” Jokowi responded to an interviewer in the video published by the Presidential Press Bureau.

Asked if his oldest son Gibran Rakabuming Raka will contest the presidential election, Jokowi replied: “The pairing of presidential and vice presidential candidates is determined by a political party of a coalition of parties. I shouldn’t intervene in the process.”

The video was posted on the Presidential Secretariat’s YouTube account hours after the court stipulated that an Indonesian citizen under the age of 40 can qualify as a presidential or vice-presidential candidate if they have served or are serving in an elected public position.

This ruling was in response to a motion filed by a Sebelas Maret University student who sought to challenge the 2017 general election law, which previously limited the age of presidential and vice-presidential candidates to 40 years or older. The student argued that this restriction infringed on the constitutional rights of "inspirational young leaders" like Gibran, the mayor of Solo who is currently 36 years old.

Gibran has been widely speculated as a potential running mate for presidential candidate Prabowo Subianto, currently the defense minister in the Jokowi cabinet.

The amended version of the relevant article now states that a presidential or vice-presidential candidate "must be at least 40 years old or has served or is serving a public position through general elections, including regional government leader elections." 

Constitutional Court Chief Justice Anwar Usman noted that this ruling, which was tightly decided 5 to 4 among justices, will come into effect for the 2024 presidential election. The ruling was issued just three days before the General Election Commission (KPU) began to receive registration of presidential candidates and their running mates.

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