Direct regional elections provide a taste of democracy

Stevie Emilia The Jakarta Post/Jakarta

For decades, the idea of direct regional elections for local leaders was unthinkable. But things change and Indonesia embraced direct regional elections in 2005, which promises to deepen and institutionalize democratic traditions at the grassroots level.

Direct regional elections -- the first in the country's history -- are scheduled to be held in over 200 mayoralties, regencies and provinces. The elections began on June 1 in Kutai Kartanegara regency in East Kalimantan, where residents were able to vote for their regent.

The election in Kutai was relatively smooth, besides a few protests over alleged poll irregularities, and in the end Syaukani became Indonesia's first regional leader directly elected by the people.

Kutai's success in holding the first direct regional elections gave everyone hope that elections in other parts of the country -- an exciting but also worrisome process -- would be just as successful and pave the way for a return of sovereignty to the people.

The regional elections, which had their starting point in the regional autonomy that was introduced in 2001, were held in the high spirit that followed the free and fair general elections in 1999 and 2004, and marked a giant leap of faith to embrace a system that had been disregarded for over four decades.

Regional autonomy itself has long been criticized for doing little for people at the lower levels of society, serving only to transfer power from the hands of unscrupulous politicians in the central government to even more unscrupulous ones at the local level.

But there is hope regional elections will eventually bring a more democratic rule to the local level and lead to the rise of local leaders who are more accountable and qualified, and able to carry out the wishes of the people.

Both regional autonomy and direct regional elections are also expected to put an end to the unbalanced relationship between the central and local governments, as well as to promote political equality among all citizens, regardless of their background, giving them a sense that they are not being left out of a process that has in the past been dominated by the elite in Jakarta.

Along the way, in parts of the country, local elections did not go as well as could have been hoped.

Reports of vote buying, power plays, poll fraud and problems with voter registration, combined with a lack of accountability and credibility showed by some local elections commissions, surfaced in media, tarnishing the legitimacy of the long-awaited regional elections.

The limited time allowed for campaigning -- making it difficult for voters to truly measure the quality and platforms of the candidates -- as well as a lack of available media outlets to educate the public about substantive campaign issues, were among the factors blamed for the elections' shortcomings.

Physical clashes occurred in some areas, including in Kaur regency in Bengkulu province, where some 10,000 people went on the rampage and set fire to government offices and houses in July to express their disappointment with the regency election results.

In North Sumatra, a mob attacked the General Elections Commission office in Central Tapanuli regency in October after the commission refused to allow a candidate for regent contest the election because of questions over the legitimacy of her high school diploma. In the city of Sibolga, the election was delayed at the last minute for three days because voter cards had not been distributed.

Another example of the troubles faced by elections was a high profile case involving a long legal battle in Depok city, near the capital Jakarta, where one of the political parties that came out on the losing end of the election challenged the results in court. In its lawsuit, the losing party claimed the local elections commission had committed violations in implementing the election process.

There were also some surprises in the elections. Golkar Party, which had been widely tipped to win most of the seats in the elections, and announced its goal of winning 60 percent of the seats in the regional elections, did not do as well as expected.

For example, in Surabaya, Bambang Dwi Hartono and his running mate Arif Afandi, who were nominated by the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), were elected mayor and deputy mayor. Gamawan Fauzi and Marlis Rahman, nominated by the Crescent Star Party (PBB) and the PDI-P, won the gubernatorial election in West Sumatra.

Former regional autonomy minister Ryaas Rasyid told Singapore's New Straits Times that it would be difficult to predict the outcome of the elections. "Golkar stands a good chance, but it's not a foregone conclusion. The regional elections will be very local and culturally driven. There will be a lot of emotional, cultural and ethnic ties between the candidate and the voters."

Regional elections, he believed, would serve to further embolden the provinces to press the central government for concessions on a wide range of issues.

"After the regional elections, a new pattern of relationship between the local and central governments will emerge," said Ryaas. "The locally elected leader will consider himself to be more independent and more predisposed to oppose the central government if its policies are considered to be against the interests of his community."

With more elections to come, and despite some imperfections in the polls that have been held, this undertaking -- a learning experience in its early stages that should be conducted with patience and perseverance -- holds the dreams and ideals of a democratic country.