The Presidential Decree of July 5, 1959 (legally the Decree of the President of the Republic of Indonesia Number 150 of 1959 on the Return to the Constitution of 1945, id, Keputusan Presiden Republik Indonesia Nomor 150 Tahun 1959 Tentang Kembali kepada Undang-Undang Dasar 1945) was issued by President

Sukarno Sukarno). (; born Koesno Sosrodihardjo, ; 6 June 1901 – 21 June 1970) was an Indonesian statesman, orator, revolutionary, and nationalist who was the first president of Indonesia, serving from 1945 to 1967. Sukarno was the leader of ...

in the face of the inability of the

Constitutional Assembly of Indonesia The Constitutional Assembly ( id, Konstituante) was a body elected in 1955 to draw up a permanent constitution for the Republic of Indonesia. It sat between 10 November 1956 and 2 July 1959. It was dissolved by then President Sukarno in a dec ...

to achieve the two-thirds majority to reimpose the 1945 Constitution. It was army chief of staff

Abdul Haris Nasution General of the Army Abdul Haris Nasution ( Old Spelling: Abdoel Haris Nasution; 3 December 1918 – 6 September 2000), was a high-ranking Indonesian general and politician. He served in the military during the Indonesian National Revolution an ...

who concluded that this would be the only way to bring about the reintroduction of a constitution that paved the way for the military to play a greater role in the running of the state, ushering in the period known as the "

guided democracy Guided democracy, also called managed democracy, is a formally democratic government that functions as a ''de facto'' authoritarian government or in some cases, as an autocratic government. Such hybrid regimes are legitimized by elections th ...

" (1959–1966).

The Decree

The decree, which was read by Sukarno at the

Merdeka Palace The Merdeka Palace (; also known in Indonesian as ''Istana Gambir'' and during the Dutch colonial times as ''Paleis te Koningsplein''), is one of six presidential palaces in Indonesia. It is located on the north side of the Merdeka Square in Cen ...

reads as follows:

Aftermath

After Sukarno enacted the decree, he dissolved the

Constitutional Assembly A constituent assembly (also known as a constitutional convention, constitutional congress, or constitutional assembly) is a body assembled for the purpose of drafting or revising a constitution. Members of a constituent assembly may be elected b ...

by abrogating the 1950 Provisional Constitution. This decree caused the

cabinet Cabinet or The Cabinet may refer to: Furniture * Cabinetry, a box-shaped piece of furniture with doors and/or drawers * Display cabinet, a piece of furniture with one or more transparent glass sheets or transparent polycarbonate sheets * Filing ...

to be directly led by the

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) *President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ful ...

. However, the decree had received support from the military because it gave them a greater role in the state security.

References

* Riklefs (1982), ''A History of Modern Indonesia'', Macmillan Southeast Asian reprint, * Sekretariat Negara Republik Indonesia (1975) ''30 Tahun Indonesia Merdeka: Jilid 2 (1950–1964) (30 Years of Indonesian Independence: Volume 2 (1950–1964))'' * Sukarno (1959), ''President Sukarno Decrees Indonesia to Re-adopt 1945 Constitution'', Embassy of Indonesia (Australia), *Widjaya, A. W. (1989). Dekrit Presiden 5 Juli 1959 dan UUD negara Indonesia dalam lintasan sejarah dua dasawarsa, 1945-1965. Indonesia: Fajar Agung. {{URL, 1=https://www.google.co.id/books/edition/Dekrit_Presiden_5_Juli_1959_dan_UUD_nega/_nm7AAAAIAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=0&bsq=dekrit%20presiden, 2=View Book Guided Democracy in Indonesia Sukarno Legal history of Indonesia Sukarno's 1959 Decree 1959 documents