New legislators unlikely to bring change

Controversy over alleged nepotism in the provisional list of legislature candidates fielding more than 2,000 candidates issued by the General Election Institute on Jan. 20 continues unabated. Political scientist Arbi Sanit reflects on the issue.

JAKARTA (JP): The legislature's close relationship with the power elite is not a new phenomenon but the spotlight on the government is stronger than ever these days.

Full attention has been focused on the ruling Golkar because it has 30 "nepotistic" candidates, the highest number compared to the United Development Party (PPP) and the Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI).

The candidates have been put in the upper part of the list thus making them more eligible to become People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) members.

A total 2,303 legislator candidates from three political parties will contest 425 seats in the 500 strong-House of Representatives (DPR) election in May. The remaining 75 seats are reserved for Armed Forces members who do not vote in the election. The 500 DPR members plus 500 others appointed by the President constitute the MPR.

The placement of the names on the list is crucial. The higher a candidate's name appears on the list, the greater chance they have of being elected for DPR membership.

Five nepotistic candidates already occupy these positions. Furthermore, most of them are in a group with some 35 ministers, bureaucratic elite and 10 indigenous tycoons and there is a strong probability all of them will become MPR members. It is almost certain that no businessman legislature candidate will become a member of the House. However, a minister who is Golkar chairman has a greater chance of being elected as a member of the House, thus fueling speculations he will become the next Speaker of the House.

Based on the strength and position of the legislature candidates related to the power elite and their political configuration, it is interesting to question what role will be played by the nepotistic legislature candidates.

Based on their serial number on the list which is close to candidates from the government and the private sector, the nepotistic candidates in the MPR would be able to have a say on the political system and the direction of state policies, the GBHN.

Although they lack experience, their network (due to nepotism) and their almost limitless funding makes it possible for them to conduct an effective lobby among MPR members.

This is the kind of power that could be used to make real changes for the benefit of the people, the young generation, the private sector and themselves.

They could fight for political reform, for example, through leadership regeneration and employment opportunities as well as economic liberalization.

But considering their track record in business it is very unlikely they would exploit their power that way. Their most likely role would be to become supporters of the established power with its high-growth economic policies.

The nepotistic candidates have the potential to brush aside the interests of the people, which is the main task of the respected institutions, and put forward their own interests instead. In other words, they will play the role of torchbearers of the New Order government.

It is highly possible that this role would be sought after purposely by the authorities to answer the increasingly loud demands from the people for political reform.

Therefore, the nepotistic candidates would substitute people in the representative institutions as a mere formality but no change is likely to come in either political system or policies.

Their tendency to conduct business with the government and bureaucrats will further solidify the client-patron relationship which has proven to be the cause of a high-cost economy and unclean government.

Furthermore, they will likely reject a more competitive and open political system thereby strengthening various forms of power concentration and threatening the democratization process, slowing down the nation's road toward globalization. It is this role of nepotistic legislature candidates which underlies widespread criticism these days.

The writer is lecturer in political science at the University of Indonesia in Jakarta.