A dim view of RI's general election

A dim view of RI's general election

Partai, Pemilu dan Demokrasi (Parties, General Election and
Democracy)
By Arbi Sanit
Pustaka Pelajar, Yogyakarta, 1997
XXX and 253 pp. (including index).

YOGYAKARTA (JP): In the current political bustle towards the
general election in Indonesia, the record shows consistent
violations committed by all of the parties.

Criticism and protests by one party against another, or
directed toward security forces and the government, have added to
the commotion. After one party makes a maneuver, another will
seek to outdo them, only serving to raise the political
temperature. It is the community which is the final victim.

Rivalry between the United Development Party (PPP) and Golkar,
or among the splintered factions of the Indonesian Democratic
Party (PDI), have led to violent, brutal acts which were absent
from previous elections. In Pekalongan and Wonosobo, friction
between PPP and Golkar stirred up public anger and caused riots.

In several towns, the PDI faction led by Soerjadi was nearly
always opposed by Megawati supporters. In Yogyakarta and Jakarta,
PPP stated they would boycott the campaigns. The question is what
makes their rivalry reach as far as the villages? After all, the
general election will only choose 425 people's representatives.
Meanwhile, 575 other persons people are simply appointed.

This reality gives cause for worry. Even if a political party
won 100 percent, the seats they got in the MPR would still be
less than the seats for the appointed members. What's more, those
in power could screen candidates they did not like.

In this political context, Arbi's book endeavors to offer a
very relevant idea for the present condition -- a revitalization
of political parties through the election mechanism. In his
observation, the general election in Indonesia has never been
exempted from political corruption. Historical records show that
the most democratic is considered the one in 1955. In the New
Order era, many observers think that the Armed Forces showed a
more neutral attitude in the 1992 general election, or, in other
words, they did not take sides. This neutrality paid dearly in
the decline in Golkar votes everywhere.

Arbi is of the opinion that if there is a decline of one of
the three-pronged powers of the New Order government, such as the
bureaucrats, the military and the technocrats, it will affect the
Golkar votes. The author sharply criticizes the political
mechanism carried out by Golkar in each general election. He
mentions violations often committed by the government and
security authorities to support Golkar.

Arbi believes that as such Golkar's position becomes a source
of disaster for the life of political parties in general, even
for Golkar as a party. The identification of Golkar as a party
owned by the government makes it incapable of taking a critical
stance towards the executive power. The political actors who
could contribute directly to the political process are those who
are in the first circle of the power.

In view of these tendencies, it is inevitable that political
parties should be given a greater role. So far, at each general
election, there has hardly ever been a mechanism for power
sharing among the parties. Consequently, the general election
only becomes a source of legitimation of the government, while
other parties are mere "cheerleaders".

General elections in Indonesia have rarely been able to avoid
violence and brutality. As the general election has been made a
political tool to give legitimation, a decrease of votes is not
acceptable or cannot be considered as natural. It is understood
as the weakening of the people's support to the regime in power.
A decline in the number of votes is often interpreted as a form
of the people's resistance against the authorities.

If the general election is understood as the process of
returning the people's sovereignty through the election of their
representatives to the House of Representatives, the general
election does not need to be understood as something absolute. It
means that if the people's votes are returned in the form of
their trust in their representatives, it does not need to become
an obligation. The people are allowed to freely determine their
support without any coercion whatsoever. This principle is
certainly inherent with the values of democracy, in which the
people's voice is respected through the constitutional mechanism
and a difference is accepted as an unavoidable reality.

In the context of a model or a system of election, Arbi has
proposed a revision of the current model to a balanced
proportional system. He sees this as one that tends to keep away
the representatives of the people who have elected them and that
opens possibilities for political talk like hopes, promises,
gifts and bribes.

Consequently the people's representatives tend to become the
servants of the authorities or of themselves, because they are
separated from the people who have elected them. Arbi has
proposed a system of districts in the general election. Although
this system carries no small consequences, it is considered that
the people will have greater possibilities to channel their
aspirations.

One of the important points put forward by the author is that
the realization of democracy in the political parties cannot be
separated from the involvement of each political party
participating in the election. So far in the general election,
the political parties have always been on the sidelines, e.g.
they are only involved in the Election Supervision Committee,
witnesses, members of the election committee. On the other hand,
it is almost assured that the whole technical implementation is
controlled by the bureaucracy, which is merely an extension of
Golkar.

A competitive general election is apparently still far from
our hopes. However, it is one of the criteria to determine the
democracy content in a general election. In some countries, each
political party the right to mobilize the masses and the freedom
to associate and assemble in the run-up to the election. But here
it is the contrary. In the context of a general election this can
be qualified as one of the impediments to realize a competitive
general election.

This book is divided into three parts. It is an important
contribution to the implementation of a more competitive general
election and the creation of sound political parties. In this
kind of sociopolitical situation, the book needs to be read by
whoever wishes for democracy in this country to fare better.

-- A. Wisnuhardana

The writer is chairman of the Forum of Humanities and Social
Studies in Yogyakarta.