Sent from my BlackBerry®
powered by Sinyal Kuat INDOSAT
From: Inside Indonesia
Date: Sun, 5 Jul 2009 16:50:59 +0000
To: <sugi.lanus@gmail.com>
Subject: Issue 97: Election politics
Inside Indonesia will be re-introducing its Education Supplement soon in this issue
Election politics
This edition of Inside Indonesia examines the role of money, religion and much else in this year’s elections
Edward Aspinall
Ten years ago, Indonesia held its first democratic elections in the post-Suharto period. The lead article in Inside Indonesia’s pre-election special in 1999 noted that many in the Indonesian press were warning that ‘the coming elections have the potential for national disaster’. But on the day of the polls, the nation heaved a sigh of relief, and outsiders applauded. The elections were generally peaceful, their results were respected, and they ushered in a period of democratic government that has survived, albeit with ups and downs and plenty of shortcomings, until this day.
Ten years on, the atmosphere could hardly be more different. Open elections have become part of Indonesia’s democratic furniture. In April, voters around the country went to the polls to elect thousands of members of legislative assemblies at the national, provincial and district levels. Later this week, citizens will take part in the first of two possible rounds of voting for a president and vice-president. Few people expected either dramatic change or chaos during this year’s elections. In fact, many citizens have lost their initial enthusiasm for voting, but they also take it for granted that this is the way that governments rise and fall.
Full story ...Chaos and consolidation
The April 2009 legislative polls exposed weaknesses in Indonesia’s electoral management, but the results will help to strengthen the democratic polity
Marcus Mietzner
Indonesia’s parliamentary elections, which were held across the archipelago on 9 April 2009, were an important litmus test for the maturity of its post-1998 democracy. To begin with, the quality of Indonesia’s electoral management had been questioned before the polls, with many observers predicting that the ballot’s legitimacy could be at risk. Whereas both the 1999 and 2004 elections had been widely praised as being free, fair and competitive, there were serious doubts about how professionally managed the 2009 polls would be. Second, Indonesians were curious as to whether Yudhoyono’s Democrat Party would become the first government party since Suharto’s fall to win a national election. In the two previous ballots, neither Habibie’s Golkar nor Megawati Sukarnoputri’s PDI-P (Indonesian Democracy Party of Struggle) had managed to turn incumbency into electoral victory.
Finally, commentators also speculated about the possible impact of important electoral reforms – most notably, the introduction of a parliamentary threshold and of a fully open party list – on the stability of Indonesia’s party system. This article discusses the outcome of the elections against the backdrop of the three pre-election concerns, concluding that while a slight decline in the quality of democratic procedures did take place, other trends indicate a further consolidation of Indonesia’s 11 year old democracy.
Full story ...The eagle has crash-landed
Despite an unprecedented media campaign, Prabowo Subianto’s political comeback has fallen flat – for now
Dirk Tomsa
Ten years ago it seemed as if Prabowo Subianto’s political career was over before it had really begun. During the twilight days of the New Order, the former commander of the notorious special forces unit Kopassus had lost a power struggle against his archrival Wiranto and was subsequently dismissed from the military. Accused of involvement in the abduction of student activists and the instigation of the anti-Chinese riots in Jakarta in May 1998, the former son-in-law of ousted president Suharto considered it safer to leave the country and go into temporary hiding. In self-imposed exile in Jordan he turned his attention to business, making a fortune on the international oil and gas market and through a number of high-stake deals aided by his billionaire brother, business tycoon Hashim Djojohadikusumo.
In the meantime, Prabowo’s archrival from his days in the army, Wiranto, enjoyed a brief moment in the sun. Having outmaneuvered Prabowo during the turbulent days of the transition, the former adjutant of Suharto was instrumental in helping Abdurrahman Wahid to an unexpected stint at the presidency in 1999. But to Wiranto’s disappointment, his support for Wahid did not bring the desired recompense.
Full story ...Down but not out
Islamic political parties did not do well, but Islamic politics are going mainstream
Bernhard Platzdasch
The international media has described the 2009 legislative election as a bad one for political Islam. The vote for Islamist parties dropped from 21 per cent in 2004 to roughly 16.5 per cent, which is more or less back to what they won in the 1999 elections. If one adds the vote of Indonesia’s Islam-oriented parties (parties that are linked to large Islamic organisations but do not include Islam as their formal ideology), the vote looks even worse, with a decline from about 36 per cent in 1999 and roughly 37.5 per cent in 2004 to 29 per cent in 2009.
Does the Islamist and Islamic-oriented parties’ poor showing mean that political Islam is a spent force in Indonesia? I argue it does not. As we shall see, the problems of the Islamic parties mask a deeper trend at work: Islamic agendas are being adopted by so-called mainstream, secular parties. These parties have increasingly moved toward a pro-Islamic ideological middle-ground in recent years by assuming a ‘nationalist-religious’ platform. In a Muslim majority country such as Indonesia, this naturally means an accommodation of Islamic interests.
Full story ...Dominant but weak
Signs of underlying fragility in nationalist parties may benefit Islamic parties in future elections
Thomas B. Pepinsky
Many progressive groups, secularists, and religious moderates in Indonesia worry about the conservative Islamic agenda in Indonesia. This is primarily due to the ability of conservative groups to win the passage of illiberal or anti-pluralist legislation ‘in the name of Allah’. In recent years, Indonesia’s nationalist parties have accepted such legislation in order to avoid appearing anti-Islam. Such fears are best illustrated through the restrictions placed on the Ahmadiyah sect’s ability to proselytize, and the passing of the 2008 anti-pornography bill; each completed at the behest of a group of vocal conservative elements and political parties that struck temporary, issue-based coalitions with nationalists and moderates.
But this worry has been accompanied lately by another set of concerns about the future of political Islam as an electoral force in Indonesia. Some progressives and moderates see worrying signals in the April 2009 legislative elections about the long-term trajectories of nationalist, Pancasila-based parties that provide the main electoral alternative to Islamic parties. This concern is not just about the willingness of nationalist parties to stand up to conservative interpretations of Islam, but rather about long-term weaknesses in the nationalist parties themselves.
Full story ...Symbols and signs
Photo-essay: PKS is often depicted as radical Islamists, but its members show evidence of ideological diversity
Jeremy Menchik
On 30 March 2009 the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) held an election rally in Gelora Bung Karno, Central Jakarta. The stadium was packed with enthusiastic supporters waving flags, dancing to dangdut music and cheering on Indonesia’s largest Islamist political party. Both the foreign and domestic press have depicted the election day showing of the PKS, as well as the even less impressive results of the other Islamic parties, as demonstrating the failure of radical Islamic parties in the world’s largest Muslim democracy. Yet the message from the political rally suggests that this characterisation is worth reconsidering.
Pluralism, as defined by the Oxford American Dictionary, is a ‘condition or system in which two or more states, groups, principles, sources of authority, etc., coexist’. The political symbols found at the rally suggest that PKS cadres are not hard-line extremists bent on imposing a narrow interpretation of syariah on all Indonesians, but are rather pious Muslims striving to reconcile diverse ideologies including nationalism, pan-Islam, and deep respect for personal piety.
Full story ...Seeking representation
Activists in Palu remain confined to the political margins
Dave McRae
In 2009, Indonesia’s pro-democracy activists put aside their aversion to formal politics and ran for parliament in record numbers. Beforehand, activists had mostly shunned elections for fear of being corrupted by party politics. But frustration at the pace and scope of reforms achieved during the first decade of democratic rule saw some of Indonesia’s most prominent activists abandon their previous ‘non-partisan’ stand. By not contesting elections, they decided, they had allowed non-reformists to take power unopposed.
Among the early movers was leftist activist Budiman Sudjatmiko, who rose to prominence as a political prisoner during the final years of Suharto’s rule. Sudjatmiko joined the mainstream Indonesian Democracy Struggle Party (PDI-P) in 2004, bringing a block of around 50 activists into the party with him. Another to enter electoral politics was Dita Indah Sari, a prominent labour organiser who was also jailed by the New Order. Sari was central to efforts to form a new leftist party, the National Liberation Party of Unity (Papernas), to compete in the 2009 elections. When Papernas failed to qualify, however, Sari led a block of Papernas activists en masse to join the mainstream but minor Islamic party, the Reform Star Party (PBR).
Full story ...Feeling cheated, acting apathetic
Many Indonesian students face obstacles voting, but they aren’t much interested anyway
Benita Chudleigh
It is the day before Indonesia’s 2009 legislative election. As a student of Indonesian politics, weeks of intense campaigning have resulted in a degree of election fever on my part. With growing excitement, I ask around my kost (boarding house) to see how many of the girls intend to vote the following day. While answers vary from ‘going shopping’ to ‘visiting my boyfriend,’ one thing is sure; none of the 20 university students I live with are going to vote.
Though democracy is still new in Indonesia, I was perplexed by the seeming apathy of many university students regarding the electoral process. After all, Indonesian students a little over ten years ago were at the forefront of the movement that brought down the Suharto regime and allowed democracy to be established. The reasons why many students do not partake in the electoral process are not all to do with apathy, however. Some point to concerning aspects of the democractic process.
Full story ...Suicide and progress in modern Nusantara
While it’s tragic that some candidates kill themselves after Indonesian elections, at least they aren’t killing each other
Michael Buehler
Sri Hayati was found dead outside the village of Bangunjaya in West Java at 7.30 on the morning of 15 April 2009. Using her headscarf, she had hung herself on a pole in a hut in a rice field. The 24 year old woman had been running for a seat in the parliament of Banjar City for the National Awakening Party but had gathered only ten votes in the general legislative elections that were conducted on 9 April. According to the local media, Hayati, who was four months pregnant, committed suicide due to this dismal result.
In the town of Takalar, South Sulawesi, Saribulan Daeng Singara, a 56 year old housewife, slit her wrist with a razor in her bathroom on 28 April 2009. Again, a failed candidacy for the local parliament had apparently triggered her suicide. After racking up massive debts to finance her political campaign in the elections, Singara saw no other way out, so said the local press.
These were by no means isolated incidents. In the days immediately following the legislative elections, suicides and suicide attempts by political candidates were reported from several places across the far-flung Indonesian archipelago, including the city of Pontianak in West Kalimantan and Kupang in East Nusa Tenggara.
Full story ...Not just an elite game
In Bali, it’s neither policy, parties nor entrenched elites, but image-savvy politicians and an all-powerful media that are dominating the new electoral landscape
Graeme MacRae and I Nyoman Darma Putra
In Bali, most people have taken this year’s elections in their stride. Balinese are getting used to elections and are beginning to develop their own distinctive electoral culture.
And little wonder. In Bali, as in other parts of Indonesia, there have been many elections since the last national legislative and presidential elections in 2004. These have included several rounds of pilkada (direct elections of regional heads) at the district and city level, the election of a new governor of the province, as well as this year’s (national) general election of members of district, provincial and national parliaments.
Opinions vary on the extent to which truly democratic representation is being achieved in Indonesia. Research in many parts of the country suggests that political elites of the New Order period have found new ways of reconfiguring and consolidating their power through collusion, alliances and cartels that cross the lines of political parties. We have been following elections in Bali for several years, focusing on the cultural dimensions as well as the purely ‘political’ ones. What we have seen leads us toward somewhat different conclusions.
Full story ...Winning the villages
Grassroots political operators hold the key to many candidates’ success
Achmad Uzair Fauzan
Analysis of a candidate’s chances in an election often focuses on their financial resources, their networks or their prominence. But grassroots political organisers can be just as important to a political aspirant’s success or failure. A single candidate in Indonesia may employ hundreds of grassroots campaign organisers , even to run for a district-level parliament. Their close personal ties within communities make these grassroots organisers a conduit through which candidates gain direct access to voters.
The role of village-level political organisers has been growing ever since the fall of Suharto’s authoritarian regime. Under Suharto, political parties were barred from establishing boards below district level. But with parties able to establish structures right down to the village level to compete in newly democratic elections, grassroots organisers have over time become an important ingredient in party success at election times.
However, a change in the electoral system forced by Indonesia’s Constitutional Court elevated village-level organisers to particular importance in this year’s parliamentary election.
Full story ...Purchasing Power
Weak rules and weak implementation meant that influence could still be bought in the 2009 elections
Indonesia Corruption Watch
Rules about how parties obtain funds, and how they use these funds, are a key part of ensuring fairness during elections – fairness between parties, and fairness to voters. Without these rules, older, better-established and more powerful parties could have unfair advantages in obtaining funds or in influencing voters. Without effective monitoring of campaign funds, parties can obtain funds from illegal sources, compromising future decision-making if they win power, and spend funds in illegal ways, such as by buying votes.
Unfortunately, in the 2009 legislative elections, the rules were so weak, and the implementation fell so far short, that in practice there was no real or effective monitoring of campaign funds. Parties were basically free to do as they liked, as long as they provided a very simple summary to the General Elections Commission (KPU), which has so far failed to check these reports in any significant way.
A main cause of this situation was that KPU was very late in issuing the regulations on campaign finance, and the regulations were unclear.
Full story ...
___________________________________________________________
You're receiving this Newsletter because you have subscribed
to the Newsletter Service at http://insideindonesia.org.
To unsubscribe please click here: http://insideindonesia.org/component/option,com_letterman/task,unsubscribe/Itemid,126/
E-mail: sugi.lanus@gmail.com
__._,_.___
Tidak ada komentar:
Posting Komentar