President Sukarno's 1959 Decree

The Presidential Decree of 5 July 1959 was issued by President Sukarno in the face of the inability of the Constitutional Assembly of Indonesia to achieve the two-thirds majority to reimpose the 1945 Constitution. It was army chief of staff Abdul Haris Nasution 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".

The Decree

The decree, which was read by Sukarno at the Merdeka Palace reads as follows:

After Sukarno enacted the decree, he dissolved the Constitutional Assembly by abrogating the 1950 Provisional Constitution. This decree caused the cabinet to be directly led by the President. However, the decree had received support from the military because it gave them a greater role in the state security.