Is Indonesia returning to the 'Orde Baru' era?
Omar Halim
The Jakarta Post
Publication Date : 15-06-2010
After his fall in May 1998, Indonesia inherited the political system established by former president Soeharto, where the number of political parties was limited to three, the Golkar Party, the Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI) and the United Development Party (PPP). But they were merely rubber stamps.
The government of president B.J. Habibie, who ruled the country from May 1998 until September 1999 resulted in a vast change, at least in the political system, where many new political parties emerged and were permitted to participate in the subsequent elections.
Since that, we have had truly democratic elections: the legislative elections in 1999, the 2004 and 2009 legislative and direct presidential elections. Until 1999, it was the People’s Consultative Assembly that had the right to elect the president and vice president.
Political parties were, however, used, as they had been before and are to this day, to advance the interests of the political elite. It is the prerogative of the leadership of each party to decide who should represent the party in the different branches of government.
In the House of Representatives (DPR), for instance, members of that party would be the loyalists of the party leadership who could be relied upon to implement the policies/positions of the party leadership.
This is so because the voters vote for the party, instead of the individual running under the banner of the party. The multiplicity of parties, and the fact that voters were never given the opportunity to know the distinct differences among the political parties, had created confusion, and apathy, among them.
Support for almost all, including the big parties, has continued to decline since 1999, with two exceptions, one the Democratic Party (PD), which was founded by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono. The second was the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS), an Islamist party running under the guise of fighting for justice and welfare.
Perhaps because of the fact that no political party was able to obtain an absolute majority, but despite
the fact that the present President was elected by more than 60 percent of the voters, the President
had to get the support of other political parties.
One of the serious consequences of this situation is the fact that many people appointed to the Cabinet do not have the best qualifications to run their ministries, since they are simply loyalists to the leadership of their political parties.
However, despite the coalition, the government could not prevent members of the coalition taking different positions from those of the government.
But, since the President is directly elected by the people, he or she and the executive branch under him/her should be directly responsible to the voters, not to the parliament. On the other hand, the political parties (not individual members) in the House are also directly elected by the people.
The political parties in the House should also feel directly responsible to the voters. Presently, Indonesia seems to be a country with a presidential system acting in accordance with a parliamentary system.
The recent establishment of the joint secretariat of the coalition members, which is chaired by the President himself and Golkar chairman Aburizal Bakrie acting as the executive head of Golkar Party, the second biggest political party after the Democratic Party.
It is not clear what role, if any, the other members of the so-called coalition in the Cabinet will play in policy formulation.
It seems this has been done with the aim of ensuring full support from the House after the President’s bitter experience with members of his coalition in the Bank Century bailout scandal.
Nevertheless, assuming that this joint secretariat will be very successful in coordinating the positions of the executive branch and the House in the future, what difference will there be between the present government and the government of former president Soeharto?
Does it mean a repetition of its rubber stamp role during Soeharto’s era? Where is the check and balance mechanism between the different branches of government? Where is the democratic system that Indonesia has haphazardly developed since 1998?
(Anyone cares to look in her or his Xtal ball to forsee the future?)
wo 16 jun 2010 - 1:58
