Direct regional elections provide a taste of democracy

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.