New legislators unlikely to bring change

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.