Local elections will be 'undemocratic'<\/p>\n
Muninggar Sri Saraswati, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
Law No. 32\/2004 on regional administrations could create
\nundemocratic elections of governors, mayors and regents,
\nscheduled to begin in June across the country, a court heard on
\nWednesday.<\/p>\n
A number of experts told the Constitutional Court that the law
\ncontravenes the Constitution because it allows the government to
\nintervene in the electoral process.<\/p>\n
Ryaas Rasyid, a former director general of regional autonomy
\nat the home affairs ministry, said the government must not get
\ninvolved in the regional elections process.<\/p>\n
"A democratic election must be conducted by an independent
\nagency," he told the court.<\/p>\n
The government recently issued Government Regulation No.
\n6\/2005 on regional elections, which are due to start in June.<\/p>\n
During the hearing, the government representatives said that
\nthe government drafted the regulation in such a way because all
\nlocal administration chiefs were part of the state apparatus,
\nunder the Ministry of Home Affairs.<\/p>\n
Legal expert Frans Luhulima of Airlangga University concurred
\nwith Ryaas, calling the government "impolite" for issuing the
\nregulation, while the law was still being challenged in court.<\/p>\n
"The court should freeze the implementation of the law on
\nregional direct elections," he said.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, political expert J. Kristiadi said the contentious
\narticles of the law fail to ensure the principle of fairness and
\nimpartiality because it authorizes local general elections
\ncommissions (KPUDs) to conduct the elections, but also requires
\nthem to be accountable to each provincial legislative council
\n(DPRD).<\/p>\n
The KPUDs are the provincial branches of the General Elections
\nCommission (KPU), which organized last year's legislative and
\npresidential elections.<\/p>\n
"The local legislatures meanwhile comprises members of
\npolitical parties, which can nominate someone for the local
\nelection. A player must not be involved in the process of such a
\npower competition, or else a fair poll can't be guaranteed,"
\nKristiadi said.<\/p>\n
Ryaas said that there should be a single national system for
\npolls either to elect legislative members, the president or the
\nlocal administration heads.<\/p>\n
He said he could not understand why the law does not authorize
\nKPU, which commendably ran the 2004 elections and won praise from
\nthe international community, to organize the regional elections.<\/p>\n
"These inconsistencies are illogical," Ryaas claimed, and
\nadded that the government and the House of Representatives, which
\nenacted the law, failed to show their commitment to real regional
\nautonomy.<\/p>\n
Kristiadi and Ryaas agreed that the problems stemmed from the
\nConstitution, which they deemed as "not perfect yet".<\/p>\n
A number of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and
\nprovincial branches of the KPU, brought the case to the
\nConstitutional Court, saying they opposed certain articles of the
\nlaw.<\/p>\n
Law No. 32\/2004 came into force in October 2004. While the law
\nwas enacted in a bid to nurture democracy in the country, many
\nhave warned of a possible backlash over its many confusing
\nstipulations.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/local-elections-will-be-undemocratic-1447893297",
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