Controversial
legislation criticised as attempt by old political elites to consolidate their
loosening grip on power
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| President-elect Widodo. Indonesia, the world’s third-largest democracy, was held up as an example in the region after the July poll. Photograph: Darren Whiteside/Reuters |
Fears have
been raised for Indonesia’s democracy after its parliament voted to abolish the
direct election of local leaders, a key post-dicatatorship reform credited with
assisting president-elect Joko Widodo’s rise to popularity as a mayor and
governor before he won July’s national election.
The
legislation – passed in the early hours of Friday after intensive lobbying –
will mean provincial governors, district chiefs and mayors will now be elected
by legislative bodies rather than directly by the people.
It could
also lead to Widodo’s opponents in the incoming parliament – in which his
coalition will hold just over a third of the seats – using its appointees to
block his reforms at the local level.
Direct
elections, part of the decentralisation measures implemented after the fall of
dictator Suharto in 1998, have been credited with producing a handful of
promising new leaders unconnected to the old elite, including Widodo, who beat
a former general in the election in July.
After the
tightest elections in the nation’s history ran peacefully, the world’s
third-largest democracy was lauded for it political maturity and held up as an
example in the region.
Raised in a
riverside slum in Central Java, Widodo, known in Indonesia as Jokowi, is the
first elected president with no direct ties to the old political and military
establishment.
“The bill
is a setback. A step back to a process of electing political leaders that is
now in the hands of political parties,” said Djayadi Hanan, a political analyst
from Paramadina University in Jakarta. “It is like a comeback for the political
oligarchy.”
Doing away
with direct elections, say analysts, will stymie the emergence of a new breed
of accountable, responsible leaders and entrench the old elite.
Citing a
recent poll by the Indonesian Survey Circle that showed more than 80% of
Indonesians opposed the bill, Hanan argued that Indonesia’s political elites
were trying to tighten their loosening grip on power and in doing so acted
“against the will of the people”.
The bill
has also been seen as attempt to even political scores, rushed through by an
outgoing parliament and passed by a coalition of parties led by Prabowo
Subianto, the former general who lost the July election to Jokowi.
“[The
Prabowo coalition] want to humiliate Jokowi in the parliament, and this is the
first battle,” said Eva K Sundari, a legislator from Jokowi’s Democratic party
of Struggle
The ruling
coalition in the incoming parliament will account for just over 36% of the
seats and unless Jokowi manages to secure the support of another political
party, he looks set to face a belligerent parliament after his inauguration on
20 October.
Analysts
say that while he might hold power at the top, the opposition could further
derail his programmes at a local level following the elimination of direct
elections. More than 200 new local leaders, including 11 new provincial
governors, are scheduled to be appointed next year and the new bill could help
consolidate power in the hands of Jokowi’s opponents.
Aleksius
Jemadu, the dean of political sciences at Pelita Harapan University in Jakarta,
said the bill reflected an unsavoury new development in Indonesian democracy,
one where the parliament “can do anything they want now because they control
the majority and no one can stop them”.
In the
lead-up to the boisterous 12 hours of debate and lobbying that preceded the
vote, it appeared the bill was likely to be quashed. But the party that held
the crucial swing vote, outgoing president Yudhoyono’s Democratic party,
reversed its position at the 11th hour, walking out of the plenary session and
abstaining from the subsequent vote.
That
decision cost Jokowi’s coalition more than 100 votes and sealed an easy victory
for the Prabowo-led coalition by 226 votes to 135.
Civil
society groups and NGOs have vowed to challenge the new law at the
constitutional court, but it is unclear whether they could win. Depending on
the interpretation of the law, both direct and indirect elections are arguably
constitutional.
As Prabowo’s
Gerindra party hailed victory, critics on social networks described the bill as
the death of democracy and directed their anger towards Yudhoyono under the
Twitter hashtag #ShameOnYouSBY.
At a press
conference on Thursday evening in Washington, where he was on an official
visit, Yudhoyono expressed his regret at the vote. He said his party was
preparing a lawsuit to challenge the bill and would seek recourse at the
constitutional or supreme court.
Not all
political observers are convinced he is sincere, given Yudhoyono could have
thrown out the draft law to begin with.
“This
reflects the real face of President Yudhoyono’s commitment to develop a genuine
democracy,” argued political observer Aleksius Jemadu, “The president was in a
position to stop all this in the first place, but he didn’t.”
Widodo has
vowed to fight against the law and on Friday said the Indonesian public should
remember which “political parties have robbed them of their political rights”.
 |
The
Democrats may file for review at the Constitutional Court, but experts
say
others have better standing. (Antara Photo/Puspa Perwitasari)
|
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