Poll debate: The system or the process?<\/p>\n
By Haryoso<\/p>\n
SEMARANG (JP): The problem with general elections in Indonesia
\nhas been the way they have been implemented, not the system
\nitself, according to two scholars at Gadjah Mada university.<\/p>\n
Afan Gaffar and Riswandha Imawan both contended, in separate
\ninterviews, that there is nothing wrong with the proportional
\nrepresentation system that Indonesia has used for the past five
\nelections under President Soeharto.<\/p>\n
Commenting on a proposal to change the system into a first-
\npast-the-post system in which voters directly elect their
\nrepresentatives, the two analysts said such a reform was not
\nIndonesia's most urgent priority.<\/p>\n
More urgent, according to Afan, is the achievement of an
\nelection process that is democratic and encourages healthy
\ncompetition between the three political parties allowed to
\ncontest elections.<\/p>\n
Afan and Riswandha, both staff lecturers at Gadjah Mada's
\nSchool of Social and Political Studies, said each electoral
\nsystem has strengths and weaknesses, advantages and
\ndisadvantages, making it difficult to state which one is the best
\nfor Indonesia.<\/p>\n
Last week President Soeharto commissioned the Indonesian
\nInstitute of Sciences (LIPI) to study alternatives to the
\nproportional representation election system currently in use and
\nto make recommendations on which system is best suited to
\nIndonesia.<\/p>\n
The alternative, known locally as the district system, allows
\nvoters to directly elect representatives in their district to sit
\nin the House of Representatives.<\/p>\n
Under the current system, the people do not vote for
\nindividual candidates, but for one of the three parties. The
\nseats in the House of Representatives are then distributed among
\nthe parties according to the share of the total votes each has
\nwon.<\/p>\n
The three political parties -- Golkar, the United Development
\nParty and the Indonesian Democratic Party -- appoint legislators
\nto the House of Representatives.<\/p>\n
In a general election only 400 of the 500 seats in the House
\nare contested. The other 100 seats are reserved for the Armed
\nForces, whose members do not vote.<\/p>\n
Afan said the question of the relative merits of the
\nproportional representation system and the first-past-the-post
\nsystem had been debated by political scientists all over the
\nworld for over a hundred of years and that, as yet, no concrete
\nconclusion had been reached.<\/p>\n
He said the advantage of the proportional representation
\nsystem was that it could reflect the character of a nation and
\nthat, in a multi-party system, even the smallest parties could
\nget represented.<\/p>\n
The chief weakness of the system, which is most commonly found
\nin multi-party systems, is the emergence of radical parties, he
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
Another weakness is the tendency towards coalitions between
\nthe parties contesting the election which, he said, could lead to
\nblackmailing practices by small parties in a coalition.<\/p>\n
Indonesia's electoral laws, however, limit the number of
\nparties contesting the election to three only. And Golkar has won
\nall of the past five elections with an outright majority.<\/p>\n
The district system encourages individual figures to gain
\nprominence at the expense of their political parties, according
\nto Afan. In fact, he said, the party's function is relegated to
\nthat of facilitating the careers of politicians.<\/p>\n
The chief weakness of the representative system is that it
\nallows for a very large single majority in the House of
\nRepresentatives. A party can win all, or almost all, of the seats
\ncontested, albeit some of them only by a slim margin, he said.<\/p>\n
This means that the seats in the House can be severely
\ndistorted, Afan added.<\/p>\n
Given the weaknesses of the district system, Afan said that,
\nrather than seeking to change the electoral system, Indonesia
\nshould concentrate on strengthening the electoral process under
\nthe current system.<\/p>\n
Riswandha concurred, saying that it did not matter which
\nelectoral system Indonesia adopted as long as it guaranteed the
\ndemocratic election of representatives.<\/p>\n
\"Even if we imported the best electoral system there is, say
\nfrom the United States, I don't think it would solve the problem
\nthat we have here,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Under the current system, even a party's selection of its own
\nrepresentatives has been undermined by the intervention of
\nstronger authorities, such as the government, Riswandha said. He
\npointed, in particular, to the screening process that has been
\ninstituted for prospective representatives in the House.<\/p>\n
Further, a legislator who has been appointed to the House
\nremains subject to dismissal by the political party he
\nrepresents, he said.<\/p>",
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