Democracy takes a back seat in Jambi

Democracy takes a back seat in Jambi

Jon Afrizal, The Jakarta Post, Jambi

The champions of democracy in Jambi province are no longer
consistent in upholding their principles, with many of them
getting involved in campaigning for candidates contesting the
upcoming gubernatorial elections, a leading think tank has
claimed.

"There has been a decline in democratic ethics in Jambi,"
director of the Jambi Social Reform Study Center Kasmadi Kasyim
told The Jakarta Post on Saturday.

He was referring to local political analysts and scholars who
have joined the campaign teams of gubernatorial candidates.

Kasmadi said those who used to fight for democracy have jumped
onto the bandwagon of mainstream politics, leaving no-one to
objectively monitor the election process.

"Such a function is urgently needed to prevent the election
process from sacrificing the interests of the general public," he
said.

The analysts, he added, were not now explaining to the public
the vision and policies of the respective candidates, thus
discouraging people from voting based on narrow sectarian
affiliations.

"Democracy suggests a fair competition, and should offer as
many choices as possible to the public," he said.

Coordinator of the Prosperous Justice Party's (PKS) campaign
team, Nurdin, said the party was also concerned about the lack of
democratic values in the election campaign.

PKS is ineligible to pick its own gubernatorial candidate
because it only secured three seats in the provincial
legislature, far from the electoral threshold of seven
seats.

"However, the PKS has to endorse a candidate who fits with our
criteria, even though he or she may not share our principles,"
said Nurdin.

Otto Hardiman from the Indonesian Center for Democracy and
Human Rights (Demos) said the involvement of advocates of
democracy in regional elections was also occurring at the regency
level as well.

"It has become a trend that the champions of democracy are
becoming increasingly involved in election campaigns in many
regions," he said.

He said that pro-democracy figures could make a contribution
to democracy if they dared to promote alternative candidates and
maintain pressure on winning candidates to allocate posts in
their administrations the to parties that supported them.