Indonesians took to the streets in the thousands to protest their parliament's attempts to pass election law reforms that would bypass rulings handed down by the Constitutional Court.
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00:00Protesters scale the fences outside the Indonesian parliament, gathering the thousands angered
00:10by controversial electoral reforms being pushed by the country's legislators.
00:14This action is still like this, how we demand the leadership in the DPRK province to come
00:23to power.
00:24We have given one support, the statement that he also rejected the results of the DPRK's
00:30decision because it is no longer in the people's favor.
00:33Protests erupted across at least seven major cities, decrying the national government's
00:37attempts to bypass vital constitutional court rulings regarding this year's incoming regional
00:43elections.
00:44A few days earlier, the country's constitutional court ruled that candidates must be 30 years
00:50old at the time of filing candidacy, which would disqualify the youngest son of outgoing
00:55President Joko Widodo, Kaisang Pangarap, rumored to be gunning for a seat as governor.
01:01The court also ruled that minority parties would now only need a lower threshold of representation
01:06in regional assemblies to field candidates for the elections.
01:11The rulings were seen as popular among the public.
01:14The people are very optimistic with the constitutional court ruling right now because it will actually
01:19lead them to have more options for the regional election.
01:22Nepotism, I think, is one of the things that is being challenged here.
01:28But within just 24 hours of the ruling, the country's national parliament held an emergency
01:32meeting to pass reforms nullifying the court's rulings.
01:38This enraged many Indonesians, who saw it as a sign of tampering with the country's democracy.
01:44Online, thousands of Indonesian accounts posted the blue screen with the words,
01:48Emergency Alert, while many more took to the streets with banners condemning political
01:54dynasties and defending the constitution.
01:59Storming the parliament in a fit of rage, police responded with tear gas and water cannons
02:05to disperse protesters.
02:07For now, the government has shelved its planned electoral law reforms, which would have overridden
02:12the court's rulings.
02:14Though pleased at the development, protesters say they won't hesitate to take to the streets
02:18again to make sure the government continues to respect the country's democratic foundations.
02:24Devin Tsai and Gina Lopez for Taiwan Plus.