More is less
More is less
Last week was certainly not an ordinary week. Two new
political parties were established and publicly declared. The
first is the Bung Karno Nationalist Party (PNBK) led by
Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan)
dissident Eros Djarot, and the other is the Unity, Democracy and
Nationhood Party (PPDK) led by former state minister of regional
autonomy Ryaas Rasyid. Another new party, under the leadership of
noted economist Sjahrir, is scheduled to be declared in the next
few weeks, bringing the number of existing political parties to
more than 180.
Welcome to democracy. Five years ago nobody would believe such
things could happen in this country. Our democracy is surely
moving. But, on the other side, as our democracy blossoms -- as
demonstrated by the mushrooming number of political parties --
problems and the shortcomings of our political party system are
also revealed.
First, more is less. The growing number of political parties
turn out to be insufficient to accommodate public aspirations.
The fact that new parties continue to be formed is proof that the
existing ones don't fulfill people's expectations. It is sad to
say that some of the new parties are nothing but political
ventures by fly-with-the-wind adventurer politicians, established
for personal gain, or are products of politicians with too much
self-confidence and believe they have, or will get, support from
the masses.
They should learn from the 1999 elections. More than 40
political parties participated in the 1999 elections and more
than two thirds could not get enough votes to claim their very
existence. The 1999 elections also revealed that it was the
greedy small parties, which dominated the Election Committee that
created problems. Some of them have folded, but like zombies many
of them are awake again possibly to try another adventure.
Second, the current system only allows a single entry to the
road to power, and that is through political parties. They have
to vie in the general elections to win seats in the legislature.
Thus, independent candidates have to join existing parties in
order to become a legislator. Since we have yet to apply a full
district electoral system, the party executive board still has
the power to control the lineup of the candidates. Hence, many
believe current legislators are not representative of the people
but of the parties.
The disgruntled public are also upset by the current
performance of political parties, which are colored by scandals
and money politics. Disillusioned aspiring politicians have,
therefore, no other way except to form their own party,
regardless of its grassroots support.
Third, with regard to ideology, there is no substantial change
in the Indonesian political landscape. Three ideologies remain
dominant: Islam, Nationalism and Socialism, with a number of
variants of the three. On the extreme left is the small but
militant People's Democratic Party (PRD), with the Crescent Star
Party (PBB) on the far right. While sitting in the middle with
different degrees of leaning, either to the right or to the left,
are the rest of the parties. PDI Perjuangan and the Golkar Party
share the same ideology of secular nationalism and are right in
the middle.
The 1999 elections revealed that political Islam, which gained
only about 15 percent of the votes, is less appealing to the
majority. Although in the last several years we have seen a
blossoming of cultural Islam, coupled with a surge of radicalism
among young Muslims, we believe it will not drastically change
the future election results.
In this context, one can understand why most newly established
political parties will try to win PDI Perjuangan and Golkar
votes, which are riddled with internal conflicts and are prone to
incursions. The PNBK will try to steal votes from dissatisfied
PDI Perjuangan, while the PPDK (which will rely on Ryaas Rasyid's
Institute for Governmental Studies networks) will offer a safe
haven for Golkar members who want to distance themselves from
their old past.
Yet, we still believe that these new parties are unlikely to
accommodate public aspirations. Looking around, one can see that
there are still many of Indonesia's brightest and best who prefer
to stay out of politics, and given the poor quality of existing
parties, their choice is probably right.
In democracy, we need checks and balances. Those who prefer to
stay out of politics are able to join the media, non-governmental
organizations or become academics to counter the power of
government and political parties. That way the empowered public
can help balance the powers that be. And as our democratization
process matures, we can always improve our political party system
to meet future challenges.